On September 22, 2020, Law No. 21.267 was published in the Official Gazette, establishing measures to facilitate the acquisition of medicines in the context of a health alert, whether due to an epidemic or a pandemic. In specific terms, the Law provides for the following measures, in the event of a health alert being declared in the event of an epidemic or pandemic:

A. Pharmaceutical products may be dispensed by any establishment authorized to do so, it is sufficient that the consumer shows a copy of the prescription that prescribes the medicine, in physical or digital format, in any of its forms.

B. Those prescriptions issued 6 months before the declaration of health alert or during its validity, will be valid until 6 months after the end of the alert.

C. The requirement that the electronic prescription must be signed by an advanced electronic signature is eliminated.

The above measures shall not exempt the establishment from its obligation to complete the corresponding records, according to the nature of the medicine and the provisions of the respective regulations.

Finally, it is established that the malicious use of prescriptions presented in digital form will be punished according to Book X of the Health Code, the Criminal Code and Law No. 20,000.

In case you require additional information on this matter, you may contact Andrea Abascal (aabascal@jdf.cl) and/or Rocío Vergara (rvergara@jdf.cl).