Public Consultation on Repeal of Ministerial Order SND/354/2020

The Spanish Ministry of Health has initiated a public consultation process aimed at repealing Ministerial Order SND/354/2020, dated April 19, 2020. This regulation was enacted at the time to regulate the maximum retail prices of essential health products during COVID-19, such as masks, hydroalcoholic gels, and SARS-CoV-2 antigen self-diagnostic tests. The measure sought to ensure access to these essential products for the public in a context of a global health crisis.

• The Spanish Ministry of Health has initiated a public consultation to repeal the Ministerial Order that set the prices of masks and other health products during the pandemic. The consultation, open from June 25 to July 10, 2024, aims to gather the opinions of citizens, organizations, and associations potentially affected by the future regulation.
• The Ministerial Order to be repealed is SND/354/2020, dated April 19, 2020, which established exceptional measures to ensure the population's access to recommended products as hygienic measures for the prevention of COVID-19 infections. Also included in the repeal are subsequent resolutions to the Ministerial Order that set the maximum retail amounts for masks, gels and hydroalcoholic solutions, healthy skin antiseptics, and SARS-CoV2 antigen self-diagnostic tests.
• The reason for repealing these regulations is that the current state of public health, following the end of the COVID-19 health crisis, advises to cease the intervention in the prices of these products, so that they can be marketed at a free price, in accordance with the provisions of Article 94 of the Royal Legislative Decree 1/2015, of July 24, which approves the consolidated text of the law on guarantees and rational use of medicines and health products. Therefore, a normative project of the same or higher rank is required to reverse the Order and the resolutions on this matter from the Directorate-General of the Basic Portfolio of National Health System and Pharmacy Services (Dirección General de Cartera Común de Servicios del Sistema Nacional de Salud y Farmacia), being the only viable solution as there is no regulatory alternative.
• Those interested in participating in the public consultation can send their comments to the email address participacionnormativafarmacia@sanidad.gob.es, identifying themselves and indicating that they are referring to the proposed repeal order.