| 1) |
Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in this Act, a corporation may carry on business as a pharmacist in the Republic on the following conditions: |
| i) |
The corporation shall have as the manager of its business in the Republic a pharmacist who resides in the Republic and who is not engaged in a pharmacy business which does not belong to the said corporation either alone or in partnership with another person; |
| iii) |
the manager may with the prior written consent of the council perform an act contemplated in section 29 (2) in a pharmacy which does not belong to the corporation of which he is manager; |
| b) |
the council may cancel any registration contemplated in section 14 (1) (eA) and the certificate issued in respect thereof if- |
| i) |
the manager contemplated in paragraph (a) ceases to comply with any of the requirements set out in that paragraph, or ceases to be manager of the pharmacy business of the corporation in the Republic or to act as such; |
| ii) |
after an inquiry held under section 39, the council finds that a member of the corporation who is a pharmacist or the corporation itself has contravened any provision of this Act; |
| iii) |
the corporation disposes of the whole or any part of its interest in the retail pharmacy business in respect of which it is registered under section 14 (1) (eA) to any person other than a pharmacist, or if any person other than a pharmacist acquires any interest in the corporation carrying on business as a retail pharmacist; or |
| iv) |
the corporation, subject to the provisions of subsection (4) (c), no longer complies with the provisions of paragraph (f); |
| c) |
a corporation shall not carry on business as a pharmacist unless it and its manager are registered under section 14 (1) (eA) and unless the person who is registered as manager in fact manages the business of the corporation and complies with the requirements set out in paragraph (a) in respect of such manager: Provided that the corporation may nevertheless carry on the business of a pharmacist for a period of 30 days from the time when the said person ceases to be manager, or to act as such, or ceases in fact to manage the business of the corporation, or is for any cause unable to act as manager, or ceases to comply with the requirements set out in paragraph (a); |
| d) |
the name of a corporation carrying on business as a retail pharmacist shall, subject to the provisions of the Close Corporations Act, 1984 (Act 69 of 1984), consist solely of the name or names of any of the members or former members of the corporation or of a company which has been converted into such a corporation, or of persons who carried on, either for their own account or in partnership, any pharmacy business which may reasonably be regarded as the predecessor of the business of the corporation; |
| e) |
every pharmacy in which such a corporation carries on business shall be conducted under the continuous personal supervision of a pharmacist whose name shall be displayed conspicuously over the main entrance of that pharmacy; |
| i) |
only a natural person who is a pharmacist may hold a member's interest in such a corporation: Provided that if that person dies or ceases to qualify so to hold an interest in the corporation, any member's interest held by him prior to his decease or disqualification, may continue to be held by his estate or by him, as the case may be, for a period of 12 months from his decease or disqualification or for such longer period as the council may determine; |
| ii) |
no voting rights, except in respect of a resolution enabling the corporation to comply with the provisions of this section or to dispose of its undertaking or assets or any part thereof, shall attach to any interest held in terms of the proviso to subparagraph (i). |
| 2) |
A corporation, other than a corporation contemplated in subsection (4), desiring to be registered as a corporation entitled to carry on business as a pharmacist in terms of this section, shall in the prescribed manner, specifying the prescribed particulars, apply to the council for registration. |
| 3) |
If any person who holds a member's interest in a corporation contemplated in this section, disposes of that interest or any part thereof to any person who is not a member of the corporation, or if any person who is not a member of the corporation, acquires a member's interest in the corporation, the manager of the corporation shall within 30 days after the time of that disposal or acquisition inform the registrar in writing of the name and address of each person to whom that interest has been disposed of or who has acquired that interest, as the case may be. |
| (a) |
A company which at the commencement of this section carried on business as a pharmacist in terms of this Act and which after that commencement, while so carrying on business, is converted into a corporation, may, if it complies with the conditions in respect of a corporation stated in this subsection, continue to carry on business as pharmacist. |
| (b) |
If the manager of such a converted corporation within 60 days after that conversion submits to the registrar— |
| (i) |
a copy of the founding statement of the corporation; |
| (ii) |
a list of the names and addresses of the members of the corporation stating which of those members are pharmacists; |
| (iii) |
the name and address of the manager of the corporation; |
| (iv) |
the original registration certificate issued in terms of section 14 (1); |
| (v) |
proof to the satisfaction of the registrar that the person or persons holding an interest in the corporation is or are the same person or persons who was or were a shareholder or shareholders of the body corporate so converted and the percentage interest in the corporation of each such person or each of such persons is the same as his or their percentage shareholding in the body corporate so converted, |
the registrar shall register that corporation as a corporation that may carry on business as a pharmacist in the Republic.
| (c) |
The provisions of subsection (1) (b) (iv) and (f) do not apply to a corporation which has been converted in terms of paragraph (a) and which prior to that conversion was not obliged in terms of section 22 to comply with the provisions of section 22 (6). |
| (5) |
A manager contemplated in subsection (1) (a) shall be responsible to the council for any act performed by or on behalf of the corporation in question (including any omission to perform an act required to be performed by or on behalf of the corporation in question) which may involve disciplinary action by the council in terms of Chapter V, unless he satisfies the council that the responsibility for that act rests upon a pharmacist other than himself employed by the corporation. |
| (6) |
A contravention of or failure to comply with any provision of this section, or a refusal or failure to answer any enquiry made by or on behalf of the council as to the name of the manager or any member of, or of any other person employed by, a corporation contemplated in this section, shall be an offence, and a person shall on conviction thereof be liable to a fine not exceeding R500. |
Stamp Duties Act, 1968 (Act 77 of 1968)
