Foundations · Spain

Parapharmacy in Spain

The Spanish parafarmacia is a retail outlet that sells cosmetics, food supplements and medical devices outside the pharmacy network. Unlike Italy or Portugal, Spain reserves all medicinal products, including over-the-counter ones, to licensed pharmacies (oficinas de farmacia).

Legal definition

Spanish law does not designate "parafarmacia" as a separate licensed health establishment in the way that pharmacy law designates the oficina de farmacia. A parafarmacia is, in practice, an ordinary commercial establishment whose business is the retail sale of cosmetic, hygiene, dietetic and orthopaedic products, food supplements and certain medical devices. Its operation is governed by general commercial law and by the sector-specific rules applicable to each of the product categories it sells, not by pharmacy law.

The category is defined negatively: by what a parafarmacia cannot do. It cannot dispense medicinal products as defined in Article 8 of the Real Decreto Legislativo 1/2015, of 24 July, which approves the consolidated text of the law on guarantees and rational use of medicinal products and medical devices (the Ley de garantías). That text reserves the dispensation of human-use medicinal products to legally authorised pharmacies.

The Spanish pharmacy monopoly

Article 86 of Real Decreto Legislativo 1/2015 establishes that the dispensation of medicinal products to the public may only take place in legally authorised establishments. The principal such establishment is the oficina de farmacia, which is a private health establishment of public interest, owned by one or more pharmacists. The legislation also recognises pharmacy services within hospitals and certain mutualist establishments.

The Spanish category of especialidades farmacéuticas publicitarias (EFP) — non-prescription medicines that may be advertised to the public — remains within the pharmacy monopoly. This is a structural difference from Italy and Portugal: in Spain, even a paracetamol package is sold only in a pharmacy. The Spanish regime is closer to that of France, where any medicinal product is reserved to pharmacies, than to that of Italy.

What may be sold

A Spanish parafarmacia may sell:

• Cosmetic products under Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009, including sun protection, dermocosmetics, hair and body care, and oral hygiene cosmetics.
• Food supplements (complementos alimenticios) within the meaning of Directive 2002/46/EC, as transposed by Real Decreto 1487/2009, of 26 September.
• Personal-care and hygiene products not classified as medicinal products.
• Foods for particular nutritional uses, including foods for special medical purposes, subject to the applicable EU and Spanish rules.
• Medical devices bearing the CE mark under Regulation (EU) 2017/745, except those specifically reserved to pharmacies by Spanish law (notably certain serological tests and the contact-lens regime under the relevant rules).
• Orthopaedic products within the limits set by the national orthopaedic and orthotic regulation.

What may not be sold

• Any medicinal product for human use, including over-the-counter (EFP) medicines.
• Magistral or officinal preparations, which require a pharmacist and an authorised galenic laboratory.
• Medical devices reserved to pharmacies by specific national rule.

Personnel and registration

A parafarmacia is not required to have a pharmacist on its staff, although some establishments employ one as a commercial choice. There is no national register of parafarmacias as such; the establishment is subject to the general regime of commercial activity, and its products are supervised by the Agencia Española de Medicamentos y Productos Sanitarios (AEMPS) for medical devices and cosmetics, by the Agencia Española de Seguridad Alimentaria y Nutrición (AESAN) for food supplements, and by the autonomous communities for consumer-protection enforcement.

Regional variation

Pharmacy law in Spain is competence of both the central state and the autonomous communities. The basic regime (monopoly, definition of medicinal product, etc.) is set centrally, but pharmacy planning, opening hours and certain aspects of practice are governed by autonomous-community legislation. The status of parafarmacias is correspondingly uniform on the medicinal-products question (everywhere excluded from medicines) but can vary on, for example, signage rules — autonomous communities have at times legislated to prevent parafarmacias from using a green-cross symbol or similar imagery associated with pharmacies. Pharmacist associations have litigated several cases on this front.

Online sales

Online sale of EFP non-prescription medicines from Spain is regulated by Real Decreto 870/2013, of 8 November, and is permitted only by authorised pharmacies. Authorised pharmacies must display the EU common logo for legal online pharmacies. A parafarmacia cannot obtain such an authorisation, because it is not a pharmacy. Online sale of cosmetics, food supplements and medical devices does not require a medicines-specific authorisation in Spain, but remains subject to the relevant EU product rules and to Spanish consumer protection law.

Last reviewed: May 2026.