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Pharmacist; application for a license to practice if trained in the EU/EEA/Switzerland

You can apply for a license to practice pharmacy if you have completed your pharmaceutical training in an EU member state, an EEA member state or in Switzerland and wish to practice the profession of pharmacist in Bavaria.

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Anyone wishing to practise the profession of pharmacist in an EU member state, an EEA member state or in Switzerland and Germany after studying pharmacy requires a special professional license - a license to practice.

After successfully completing your pharmacy studies, you can apply for a license to practice as a pharmacist. This license allows you to practice the profession of pharmacist in Germany independently and on your own responsibility.

You will receive the license for an unlimited period of time. It is valid for the entire Federal Republic of Germany.

Your license can be revoked if you are no longer reliable to practice the profession of pharmacist. This may include, among other things, violating professional regulations or committing a criminal offense. Your license may also be revoked if you have health problems relevant to the practice of pharmacy.

You will receive a license to practice as a pharmacist under the following conditions:

  • Pharmaceutical training completed in an EU member state, an EEA contracting state or in Switzerland that is equivalent to German training.
  • You have not been guilty of any conduct that makes you unworthy or unreliable to practise the profession.
  • You are medically fit to practise the profession.
  • You have the necessary knowledge of the German language to practise your profession.

  • Birth certificate/parentage certificate or extract from the parents' family register
    (certified copy)
  • if the name used differs from that on the birth certificate: proof of a change of name (e.g. marriage certificate)
    (certified copy)
  • valid proof of identity (e.g. passport)
    (certified copy)
  • complete and personally signed curriculum vitae

    (tabular and chronological list of the training courses completed and the relevant gainful activities pursued, stating the periods (month/year) and enclosing the relevant supporting documents)

  • Medical certificate (original)

    This must be issued and signed by a general practitioner or internal medicine practitioner established in Germany or another signatory state to the Agreement on the European Economic Area or in Switzerland and stamped with a practice or clinic stamp. If the practice or clinic stamp is not in German, a German translation of the stamp is required.

  • Certificate of good conduct of document type "O"
    • If the applicant has already spent more than six months in Germany in the past or has had or still has a place of residence in Germany.
    • In Germany, this must be applied for at the registration office of the place of residence, stating the purpose "Approbation as a pharmacist". The certificate of good conduct will be sent directly to the competent authority by the Federal Office of Justice.
  • Proof of impunity
    • Submission of criminal record extracts from all countries outside Germany in which the applicant has resided for more than six months.
    • The criminal record extracts must not be older than three months when the application is received.
    • Certified copies of these extracts must be submitted.
    • In addition, a certificate of good conduct of document type "O" if the applicant has already spent more than six months in Germany in the past or has had or still has a place of residence in Germany (see above).
  • Proof of your completed training (certified copy):

    Proof of training such as a diploma or, if applicable, other country-specific proof in accordance with Annex 5 of Directive 2005/36/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of September 7, 2005 on the recognition of professional qualifications.

You must submit the application for licensure with the required documents to the government of Upper Bavaria.

A fee of EUR 250 to 500 must be paid for the license to practice medicine if the training takes place in another EU member state. Additional costs are incurred for a required specialist language test.

The application for approval is not subject to a time limit.

The granting of a license to practice medicine or a professional permit requires, among other things, that you have the necessary knowledge of the German language to practice your profession. The 87th Conference of Health Ministers in 2014 agreed in a key points paper on the requirements for knowledge of the German language and how this knowledge can be demonstrated. The following applies:

1. the required German language skills are deemed to be proven for applicants for whom the licensing authority determines without doubt that German is spoken and written fluently (e.g. as a native language) or that the completion of medical, dental, pharmaceutical or psychotherapeutic training (proof of training) was obtained in German.

2. proof of the required German language skills is generally deemed to have been provided if the applicant has completed at least ten years of general schooling at a German-speaking school or has completed at least three years of vocational training in German.

3. if proof is not deemed to have been provided in accordance with 1. or 2. above, the language skills required for practicing the profession shall be deemed to have been demonstrated by submission of a certificate of successful completion of the specialist language test at the Bavarian State Chamber of Pharmacists.

4 Specialist language tests taken at the Chamber of Pharmacists or the competent authority of another country, as well as specialist language tests from other examination institutions, shall be recognized as proof, provided that it is guaranteed that the examination there is equivalent to the specialist language test at the Bavarian State Chamber of Pharmacists. Whether this requirement is met in individual cases must be clarified in advance with the responsible professional licensing office.

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Status: 11.11.2025
Editorially responsible for prodecure description: Bayerisches Staatsministerium für Gesundheit, Pflege und Prävention
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