Guild to charge for STOP
January 21, 2013
PHARMACIES that do not hold
membership with the Pharmacy
Guild of Australia will now have to
pay to get access to Project STOP.
Project STOP is an online
recording system that records the
sale of pseudoephedrine-based
products in ‘real time’ to assist
pharmacies to determine the
legitimacy of sales.
Online recording of
pseudoephedrine sales is a
mandatory requirement in some
but not all States and Territories.
The fee, effective from 01 March
2013, is the result of a decision by
the Pharmacy Guild of Australia
subsidiary company which operates
Project STOP, GuildLink Pty Ltd, to
charge non-Guild member
pharmacies an annual amount of
$300 to access the Project STOP
platform.
According to the Guild, the
decision was taken due to what it
calls “significant ongoing cost of
maintaining and operating the
system”, which is estimated at
around $650,000 per annum.
“The decision to charge non-Guild
members an annual levy to access
the platform has not been taken
lightly,” said the Guild’s National
President, Kos Sclavos.
“The Guild will continue to lobby
Commonwealth and State
Governments to secure funding for
this important program, however,
at this time we have no choice but
to explore alternative commercial
funding models in order to ensure
the longer term viability of
Project STOP,” Sclavos added.
Project STOP has been funded
entirely by the Guild and GuildLink
with no charge levied on pharmacy
users of the service since 2007,
following initial funding support
from the Federal Attorney-
General’s Department for
the national roll-out of Project STOP.
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