156 ANNUAL REPORT 2015 The Ombudsman recommended to the Ministry of Health that the Ministry reopen the case and make a new decision regarding the request for access to the information in File No. 4. The Ministry subsequently reopened the case and gave the journalist access to File No. 4 in its entirety. 2015-33. Refusal of dispensing chemist’s application for permission for affiliation with pharmaceutical enterprise A dispensing chemist wished to be co-owner of a pharmaceutical firm which had permission to sell livestock pharmaceuticals. Under the Act on Dispensing Chemists, a dispensing chemist could not be affiliated with a pharmaceutical enterprise without permission from the Danish Health Authority. However, the Health Authority had stated in guidance notes from 2010 that an application for permission under the Act on Dispensing Chemists was not required from chemists who did not sell livestock pharmaceuticals themselves in their capacity as dispensing chemists and who wished to be affiliated with an enterprise which exclusively sold livestock pharmaceuticals. And the chemist concerned wished to sell livestock pharmaceuticals via the pharmaceutical firm only, not as a dispensing chemist. The Danish Health Authority and the Ministry of Health found that the guidance notes were incorrect and that the chemist had to apply for permission. The Health Authority and the Ministry subsequently refused his application as they were of the opinion that such an affiliation was incompatible with his business as a dispensing chemist. The chemist complained to the Ombudsman, who stated that he could not criticise the decision that the chemist had to apply for permission, as this was stated clearly in the Act on Dispensing Chemists. The Ombudsman further stated that it was extremely regrettable that the guidance notes issued by the Danish Health Authority in 2010 contained an error. Finally, the Ombudsman stated that in his opinion the authorities had no legal basis for refusing the chemist’s application. He stated that in their administration of the relevant provision of the Act on Dispensing Chemists, the Danish Health Authority and the Ministry could not – as they had done in the case – give weight to considerations of competition and a wish to keep the business