The opinion issued in May 2018 decrypts the possibilities for association offered by the new European legal framework and gives an overview of the case law to date so that everyone can develop their activity in the safest manner possible. The government will now draw on this opinion to establish guidelines for businesses in the sector.
Healthcare is another key sector for the Autorité, and a new sector-specific inquiry is ongoing. The wide scope of the investigation will enable us to both revisit subjects that we have already studied – such as the distribution of medicinal products or the online sale of these products – and look into new subjects, such as the process of setting the prices of medicines in France as well as laboratory testing.
The aim is to bring a new and constructive perspective on this sector in light of changes in recent years, but also to review whether current legislation allows for an optimal balance to be achieved. We will look at experiments conducted in other countries and their results, in order to draw lessons from their experience. If changes are advisable, then we will propose new reforms.
Finally, 2018 promises to be a pivotal year for regulated professions, since it will include completion of the first phase of the reform, and the beginning of a second phase, with the process of drawing up a map of new offices for the next two years starting again. By the end of July 2018, 1,650 new notaries will have been appointed by the Minister of Justice following the Autorité’s recommendations. We will need to prepare a report of these first two years of implementing the map and learn from them. Initial feedback is already very positive, if we look at one of the objectives of the 2015 reform, which was to introduce more diversity in the recruitment process: a much greater number of women than usual have been appointed as notaries and many more young people.
