Glossary
Veterinary prescriptionordonnance vétérinaire
A French veterinary prescription is the document a vet issues, after a clinical examination or proper assessment of the animal, for a veterinary medicine or a human medicine given to animals (articles 4 and 105 of Regulation (EU) 2019/6).
Its required content combines article R5141-111 of the French Public Health Code and article 105 of the EU regulation: active substances, form and strength, warnings on prudent antimicrobial use, and a cascade mention where relevant.
An antimicrobial prescription is valid for 5 days. There is no national e-prescription system specific to vets yet; the regulation accepts an equivalent electronic form of identification of the vet.
Sources
See also
- Dispensing register The dispensing register is the paper or electronic record in which a French vet who supplies prescription-only medicines enters every supply (article R5141-112 of the French Public Health Code).
- Cascade The cascade is the derogation that lets a vet, exceptionally and on their own responsibility, prescribe a medicine outside its marketing authorisation when no authorised product exists for the species and condition (articles 112 to 114 of Regulation (EU) 2019/6).
- Critically important antibiotics Critically important antibiotics are substances, mainly third and fourth-generation cephalosporins and fluoroquinolones, whose veterinary use France restricts because they are essential in human medicine (article L5144-1-1 of the French Public Health Code).