Grocery Stores Face Scrutiny Over over-the-Counter Medication Sales
Oslo, Norway – The sale of over-the-counter medications like Ibux and paracetamol in grocery stores is under review by the Directorate for Medical Products (DMP), with a focus on ensuring compliance with age restrictions and sales limits. The agency emphasizes the importance of proper sales procedures for these products.
Anne-Kristin Bjerga Bjåen from the DMP stated that stores utilizing choice methods for customer authentication must conduct a thorough risk assessment to determine the effectiveness of thier age verification processes.
The DMP’s guidelines clarify that the sale of medications from automatic or self-service checkouts is restricted.For automatic dispensing, customers must first obtain a product card from store staff. Sales through self-service checkouts, where direct interaction with staff is bypassed, are prohibited. Moreover, stores without staffed service points are not permitted to sell non-prescription drugs unless they have a system in place for customer authentication and a mechanism to limit sales to one package per customer. These regulations are in place to uphold legal requirements regarding the sale of medicines.
Source: dmp.no
