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AgVetLink for PAR Traders September 2004

What constitutes ‘trading in PAR products’?

The Agricultural Compounds and Veterinary Medicines (ACVM) Act 1997 specifies that sale includes:

barter, and also includes offering, exposing, or attempting to sell, or having in possession for sale, or sending or delivering for sale, or causing or allowing to be sold, offered, or exposed for sale; and also includes:

a) delivering or disposing of by way of gift, loan, or otherwise; and

b) giving or distributing, in the course of business, as a sample or otherwise, without charge.

‘General sale’ means to sell to the public at large.

Trading

The ACVM Standard for Prescription Animal Remedy Veterinary Medicines, using this definition as a base, states that trading includes:

general sale and sale to specified/approved persons (wholesale and retail sales transactions as well as distribution, transport and storage). It also includes gifting or offering as samples as stated in the definition of sale. ‘Trader’ has a corresponding meaning.

This is a comprehensive statement of the range of activities associated with the supply chain from the registrant/manufacturer through to the end user of the products. However, the area of primary concern is the end-point sale of PAR products to the public, i.e. to the person who will use the products to treat animals.

The sale of PAR products by veterinarians or the filling of veterinary prescriptions and subsequent sale of PAR products (and all associated activities) by an approved trading entity constitute trading in PAR products.

NOT trading

However, there are persons acting under contract to a trading entity or under the authority, instruction or direction of a veterinarian who are not directly involved in the sales transactions. Examples of such activities are:

• transport and delivery of PAR products from an authorised person (veterinarian or approved trader) to a person specified by that authorised person, including postal or courier delivery or bulk transport delivery;

• storage on behalf of and in accordance with the instructions of an authorised person; and

• incorporation of PAR products into other non-PAR products, such as animal feeds, where the products are incorporated under a veterinary prescription as a coincidental service.

The ACVM Group does not consider that persons or organisations engaged in the above activities are trading in PAR products in their own right. The responsibility for the trading remains with the authorised person who retains ownership of the products until the sales transaction is completed.