Photo from Unsplash | Volodymyr Hryshchenko
The following post does not create a lawyer-client relationship between Alburo Alburo and Associates Law Offices (or any of its lawyers) and the reader. It is still best for you to engage the services of a lawyer or you may directly contact and consult Alburo Alburo and Associates Law Offices to address your specific legal concerns, if there is any.
Also, the matters contained in the following were written in accordance with the law, rules, and jurisprudence prevailing at the time of writing and posting, and do not include any future developments on the subject matter under discussion.
AT A GLANCE:
The fifteenth (15th) day of September of every year is declared as Philippine Medicine Day, as per Proclamation No. 407, series of 1953.
The State recognizes that national progress and prosperity depend upon a healthy citizenry to a large extent. As a policy of protecting public health, Republic Act No. 9502 or the Universally Accessible Cheaper and Quality Medicines Act of 2008 was enacted.
The law says:
“It is the policy of the State to protect public health and, when the public interest or circumstances of extreme urgency so require, it shall adopt appropriate measures to promote and ensure access to affordable quality drugs and medicines for all.” (Section 2, Republic Act No. 9502)
The Universally Accessible Cheaper and Quality Medicines Act of 2008 defines “drugs and medicines” as any chemical compound or biological substance, other than food, intended for use in the treatment, prevention or diagnosis of disease in humans or animals. (Section 4, Republic Act No. 9502)
The law includes the following in the definition of drugs and medicines:
(1) any article recognized in the official United States Pharmacopoeia-National Formulary (USP-NF), official Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia of the United States, Philippine Pharmacopoeia, Philippine National Drug Formulary, British Pharmacopoeia, European Pharmacopoeia, Japanese Pharmacopoeia, Indian Pharmacopoeia, any national compendium or any supplement to any of them;
(2) any article intended for use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease in humans or animals;
(3) any article other than food intended to affect the structure or any function of the human body or animals;
(4) any article intended for use as a component of any articles specified in clauses (1), (2), and (3) not including devices or their components, parts, or accessories; and
(5) herbal and/or traditional drugs which are articles of plant or animal origin used in folk medicine which are:
- recognized in the Philippine National Drug Formulary;
- intended for use in the treatment or cure or mitigation of disease symptoms, injury or body defects in humans;
- other than food, intended to affect the structure or any function of the human body;
- in finished or ready-to-use dosage form; and
- intended for use as a component of any of the articles specified in clauses (i), (ii), (iii), and (iv). (Section 4, R.A. No. 9502)
Did you know that sale or importation of certain drugs and medicines are exempt from VAT?
Revenue Regulation No. 18-2020 provides that the sale or importation of prescription drugs and medicines for particular illnesses such as diabetes, high cholesterol, hypertension, cancer, mental illnesses, tuberculosis, and kidney diseases shall be exempt from VAT.
The law says:
“Exempt transactions. –
(1) Subject to the provisions of Section 4.109-2 hereof, the following shall be exempt from VAT:
(a) xxx
(aa) Sale or importation of prescription drugs and other medicines for:
(i) Diabetes, high cholesterol, and hypertension beginning January 1, 2020l and
(ii) Cancer, mental illnesses, tuberculosis, and kidney diseases beginning January 1, 2023.
The exemption from VAT under this subsection shall only apply to the sale or importation by manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers and retailers of drugs and medicines included in the “list of approved drugs and medicines: issued by the Department of Health (DOH) for this purpose.” (Section 2, BIR Revenue Regulation No. 18-2020, amending Section 4-109-1 of Revenue Regulation No. 16-2005)
As a result, patients with the foregoing illnesses or diseases enjoy cheaper prices of medicine.
Alburo Alburo and Associates Law Offices specializes in business law and labor law consulting. For inquiries regarding taxation and taxpayer’s remedies, you may reach us at info@alburolaw.com, or dial us at (02)7745-4391/0917-5772207.
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