Four pharmacy owners filed an application in court yesterday, objecting to another pharmacy owner’s request for a temporary licence to operate in Valletta.

The owner of Chemimart, Reggie Fava, recently filed a court case against the government and the Medicines Authority, complaining that its pharmacy licence could not be transferred to a nearby, alternative site in Republic Street, after the projected move out of Freedom Square because of the works to start on the capital’s entrance.

Shop owners in Freedom Square and at the opera house site had until Friday, 26 March to close down because of the City Gate project.

The Malta Chamber of Commerce and Enterprise has defended the pharmacy owner (a former president of the Chamber), saying it could imagine no plausible reason for the relevant authority to deprive this genuine case of a licence. This is, after all, a temporary transfer and a forced move brought about by the Renzo Piano project, said the Chamber.

However, four owners of pharmacies in Valletta (Collis Williams, Royal Pharmacy, New British Dispensary and Empire Pharmacy) and the Chamber of SMEs (GRTU) filed an application, saying that if the owner of Chemimart is granted a temporary licence to operate from another outlet it owns in Republic Street, the authorities would be breaching the Pharmacy Licence Regulations.

The regulations state: “A licensee may apply for the relocation of a pharmacy as long as the relocation is within the same town or village and the proposed new premises are situated no less than 300 meters walking distance from any other existing pharmacy or not more than 50 meters from the current premises”.

Even though all four pharmacies (whose owners filed the application yesterday) are very close to each other, it must be noted that they all existed prior to the Second World War and the regulations were only published in 2007.

The application was filed by lawyers John Refalo and Jan-Karl Farrugia.

Meanwhile, the court case that Mr Fava filed against the government and the Medicines Authority is due to start being heard today.