Our firm successfully represented our clients, One by the Sea Pharmacy Ltd, in an appeal, filed by the Council of the Pharmaceutical Body (the “Appellant”) before the Court of Appeal, against a first-instance judgment of the Administrative Court, which had annulled a decision imposing the mandatory closure of a pharmacy and the compulsory summer leave on a pharmacist.
 
The case concerned a 2017 decision requiring One by the Sea Pharmacy Ltd to remain mandatorily closed between 10^th and 30^th July and obliging the responsible pharmacist to take summer leave during the same period. The Administrative Court annulled the decision, holding that there was no legal basis for imposing mandatory summer leave or for suspending the operation of the pharmacy.
 
The Appellant argued that, under the law and the applicable regulations, the Pharmaceutical Council had the authority to regulate the operation of pharmacies, including their rotation-based functioning for the purposes of public service and public health. It also contended that the contested measure did not constitute a prohibition on operation.
 
The Court of Appeal held that the appeal was inadmissible and must be dismissed, as the Appellant was not the issuer of the annulled administrative act. Therefore, it lacked legal standing to appeal the first-instance decision, since the act in question had been issued by another administrative authority, namely the Pharmaceutical Council.
 
Consequently, the Court of Appeal, in its decision dated 25 September 2025, dismissed the appeal in its entirety.
 
Following the ruling of the Administrative Court, the long-standing practice of the Pharmaceutical Council – which had been in force for decades – whereby pharmacies were compelled to close for mandatory summer leave, has now been terminated.
 
Our clients were represented before the Court of Appeal by our senior associate, Riana Pasiourtidi.

September 2025, Antis Triantafyllides & Sons LLC, Nicosia, Cyprus