The Medicines (Prohibition of Non-medicinal Antimicrobial Substances) Order 1977

Provisions prohibiting sale or supply

2.—(1) Subject to the following provisions of this Article, the sale or supply of any substance specified in paragraph (2) of this Article, being a substance to which the provisions of the Medicines (Extension to Antimicrobial Substances) Order 1973 applies (“antimicrobial substance”), is hereby prohibited.

(2) The substances referred to in the foregoing paragraph of this Article are—

(a) a substance listed in Part I of Schedule 1 to this order,

(b) a substance falling within a class f substances listed in column 1 of Part II of the said Schedule,

(c) a salt or derivative of the substances specified in the foregoing sub-paragraphs or a salt of a derivative of the said substances, or

(d) a substance the chemical and biological properties of which are identical with or similar to a substance or a class of substances listed in Part I or Part II of the said Schedule which is produced by means other than the growth of specific organisms.

(3) The prohibition imposed by paragraph (1) of this Article shall apply whether or not the substance is contained in any other substance or article unless that other substance or article is either—

(a) a medicinal product, or

(b) an animal feeding stuff.

(4) The prohibition imposed by paragraph (1) of this Article shall be subject to the following exceptions, that is to say the sale or supply shall not, by virtue of the said paragraph (1), be prohibited—

(a) where the sale or supply is of an antimicrobial substance listed in numbered paragraphs in column 1 of Schedule 2 to this order and the substance is sold or supplied for the purpose specified in the correspondingly numbered paragraphs of column 2 of the said Schedule and in the circumstances (if any) specified in relation to that purpose in column 3 of the said Schedule;

(b) where the sale is to a person who buys it for one or more of the purposes specified in section 131(2) of the Act (wholesale) and such sale is to—

(i) a veterinary surgeon or veterinary practitioner,

(ii) a person lawfully conducting a retail pharmacy business,

(iii) a holder of a manufacturer's licence granted under Part II of the Act, or

(iv) a person carrying on the business of selling by way of wholesale dealing;

(c) where the sale or supply is to any of the following—

(i) a public analyst appointed under section 89 of the Food and Drugs Act 1955, section 27 of the Food and Drugs (Scotland) Act 1956 or section 31 of the Food and Drugs Act (Northern Ireland) 1958,

(ii) an agricultural analyst appointed under section 67 of the Agriculture Act 1970,

(iii) a person duly authorised by an enforcement authority under sections 111 and 112 of the Act,

(iv) a sampling officer within the meaning of Schedule 3 to the Act,

(v) universities, other institutions concerned with higher education or institutions concerned with research.