5Ownership of pharmacy businesses

5 Ownership of pharmacy businesses (1) A person must not own or have a proprietary interest in a pharmacy business unless the person is— (a) a registered pharmacist; or (b) a company registered under the Corporations Act— (i) whose directors are all registered pharmacists; and (ii) in which all the shares and the beneficial and legal interest in those shares are held by registered pharmacists; or (c) a company registered under the Corporations Act— (i) that immediately before 1 July 1999 was registered or incorporated as a friendly society under a Friendly Societies Code of a State or Territory that was in force at that time; and (ii) that is a company limited by guarantee or shares or by guarantee and shares; and (iii) that has at least 100 members; and (iv) whose members have equal voting rights on a poll or at a meeting or equal voting rights to elect a representative to vote on their behalf; and (v) whose objects include the provision of health or welfare facilities or services for its members or their dependants; and (vi) whose undistributed surplus if the company were wound up is to be distributed among its members at the time of winding up or transferred to another person or body with a similar structure and objects; and (vii) that satisfies the Authority as to the matters set out in subsection (4); or (d) a company registered under the Corporations Act that is a wholly owned subsidiary of a company referred to in paragraph (c); or (e) a company registered under the Corporations Act that— (i) satisfies the requirements of paragraph (c)(ii) to (vii); and (ii) is an amalgamation of 2 or more companies that comply with paragraph (c) or, at the time of amalgamation, complied with paragraph (c); or (f) a person approved by the Authority to carry on a pharmacy business in an area that the Authority determines needs a pharmacy business but in which there is no person referred to in paragraphs (a) to (e) who is able to own and carry on the pharmacy business. 1. 240 penalty units in the case of a natural person; 1200 penalty units in the case of a body corporate. (2) A registered pharmacist and a company referred to in subsection (1)(b) must not own or have a proprietary interest in more than 5 separate pharmacy businesses. (3) A person is not to be treated as having a proprietary interest in a company referred to in subsection (1)(c), (d) or (e) in respect of an interest as a director, member or shareholder of that company. (4) For the purposes of subsection (1)(c)(vii), the Authority must be satisfied that— (a) the company is not carrying on business for the dominant purpose of securing a profit or pecuniary gain for its members; and (b) any object or intention of the company to provide a dividend to its shareholders or members is a limited and not dominant purpose of the company; and (c) the property and income of the company is applied towards the objects of the company. (5) In this section ***registered pharmacist*** does not include a registered pharmacist who holds provisional registration under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law.