Applying to Own a Pharmacy in Tasmania

Who can own a Pharmacy in Tasmania

You must be a pharmacist to own a pharmacy in Tasmania. Pharmacies cannot be owned by medical practitioners or private hospitals. The following ownership structures are acceptable:

1. An individual pharmacist
2. A partnership where all partners are registered pharmacists
3. A company with each director who is a registered pharmacist and the controlling interest (i.e. more than 50% of the voting shares) is held by one or more registered pharmacists; and all the other members of the body corporate are close relatives or the spouse of the pharmacist(s). NB: A shareholder in a body corporate cannot be another body corporate. Shareholders can only be registered pharmacists or close relatives (as defined below).
4. An individual or a body corporate as trustee for a discretionary (family) trust. The beneficiaries are limited to the registered pharmacist and/or their close relatives (as defined above) and the trustee is either a registered pharmacist or an eligible body corporate (as defined in Point 3). Please note that a body corporate CANNOT be a beneficiary, even if it is the trustee; nor can the trust deed make provision for broader classes of beneficiaries than those prescribed by the Act (pharmacists and their close relatives). A trust deed which names specific beneficiaries (who comply with the Act) but makes provision for other (broader) classes of beneficiaries to be added would not comply when those other classes are not limited to pharmacists or their close relatives. This therefore excludes as actual or potential beneficiaries body corporates, charitable trusts, educational bodies, another trustee/trust, business partners who are not registered pharmacists, etc.
5. An individual or a body corporate as trustee for a unit trust, provided that all unit holders must be registered pharmacists or close relatives (as defined below) and the trustee is either a registered pharmacist or a body corporate which complies with the Act. Please note that a body corporate CANNOT be a beneficiary, even if it is the trustee.

Close relative is defined as:
(a) the spouse of the pharmacist; or
(b) the son, daughter, grandson or granddaughter of the pharmacist; or
(c) any child of the spouse of the pharmacist, of whom the pharmacist is not the natural parent; or
(d) the father, stepfather, mother or stepmother of the pharmacist; or
(e) the brother, step-brother, sister or step-sister of the pharmacist.
“Spouse” includes any person who is in a significant relationship with the pharmacist, within the meaning of the Relationships Act 2003 (section 61A of the Act).