Pharmacy Premises Requirements: How to Prepare for Securing a State Medicines Service License

Opening a pharmacy is a stable and high-margin business. However, it operates under strict government regulation. Whether you are launching your first pharmaceutical startup or expanding an existing pharmacy chain with new branches, the main challenge remains the same: successfully obtaining or expanding a license from the State Service of Ukraine on Medicines and Drugs Control.

Today, the commercial real estate rental market offers hundreds of properties that may look ideal for a pharmacy. However, from a legal perspective, an attractive facade and convenient location mean nothing if the premises fail to meet even one of the Licensing Conditions.

Failure to comply with pharmacy premises requirements is the number one reason for license applications being rejected in Ukraine. Any mistake at the location selection or renovation planning stage can quickly become a financial trap. You may end up paying rent for a property that cannot be used, incur additional costs to rebuild completed structures, and lose valuable time when the business should already be generating revenue.

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Gold Standards for Pharmacy Floor Area and Location Requirements

The first requirement where you can “fall short” even before starting renovations is the total floor area of the premises and its proper allocation. According to the Licensing Conditions, the minimum total floor area of a pharmacy must be at least 50 square meters in a city, 40 square meters in an urban type settlement, and 30 square meters in a village.

The licensing authority evaluates every square meter. Therefore, if the total floor area or the area of even one isolated zone within the pharmacy is below the required standard, you will not be granted a license to sell medicines.

The requirements depend strictly on the type of settlement where you plan to operate:

*Special designated zones may be organized instead of separate rooms.

Pharmacy Entrance Configuration and Architectural Requirements

The State Service of Ukraine on Medicines and Drugs Control evaluates not only the internal layout of the premises but also how customers enter the pharmacy. Below is a checklist of critical location requirements:

1. Separate premises. The pharmacy must occupy a separate space that is completely isolated from other organizations. Shared doors, such as a door leading to an adjacent store, or a common vestibule without a permanent partition, are not permitted.
   
   
2. Sales floor location. As a general rule, the pharmacy sales floor must be located on the first floor.
   
   If the building has multiple floors, at least one customer service area must be located on the first floor, with a designated workstation for dispensing medicines. If the floor level of the sales area differs from ground level, the difference in elevation must not exceed 0.5 meters, whether above or below ground level.
   
   
3. External entrance. The pharmacy must have its own separate entrance from the outside. The law provides exceptions only for pharmacies located inside shopping centers, health resorts, hotels, airports, railway stations, or healthcare facilities.

Mandatory Premises Zoning: The Pharmacy's Main Structural Areas

The State Service of Ukraine on Medicines and Drugs Control is concerned with how the space inside your premises is divided. You cannot operate a pharmacy in an “open space” format. The legislation requires clear wall partitions and the isolation of separate functional areas.

If a contractor makes a mistake of even 20 centimeters when installing drywall partitions, reducing the storage room to 9.8 sq. m, the premises will fail the inspection. This can result in the license application being rejected.

A properly designed pharmacy layout consists of three mandatory structural areas that must be isolated from one another:

1. Customer service area (sales floor). This is the only pharmacy area freely accessible to visitors. When designing it, it is important to consider:

• Workstations for pharmacy specialists: the space must be designed for the specific number of dispensing counters. If the building has multiple floors, the law requires at least one fully equipped workstation for dispensing medicines to be located on the first floor;
• Customer flow area: the size and configuration of the sales floor must allow visitors to move freely and queues to form without overcrowding.

2. Medicine storage room (storage area). This is a restricted area where the entire inventory of medicines is stored. The storage room should be designed so that the movement of incoming goods and their transfer to the sales floor is as short and convenient as possible.

Wall dimensions and room geometry must be planned with sufficient space for large shelving units, cabinets, and specialized refrigeration equipment, while maintaining clear passages for staff.

3. Staff, utility, and administrative area. These rooms support the daily operation of the pharmacy and provide facilities for employees. New business owners often try to reduce the size of these areas in favor of the sales floor, which is a serious legal mistake. The layout must clearly provide for:

• Staff room: a separate, isolated room where employees can rest and eat.
• Changing area: a designated space with separate storage for employees' personal outdoor clothing and specialized work clothing.
• Inventory storage area: a separate room or designated built-in cabinet intended exclusively for storing cleaning supplies and equipment.
• Restroom: a separate, isolated sanitary facility. For pharmacies in urban and urban-type settlement areas, a separate restroom is mandatory. For small pharmacies in villages, only a designated staff service and utility area is required.

All pharmacy premises must be interconnected so that staff can move from the storage room or staff room to the sales floor without going outside or entering a shared building corridor. The pharmacy must function as a single, enclosed, and fully isolated complex.

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Technical and Sanitary Requirements for Pharmacy Premises

If the architectural layout is the “skeleton” of a pharmacy, its technical and sanitary infrastructure provides the systems necessary for its operation. Inspectors from the State Service of Ukraine on Medicines and Drugs Control carefully check every piece of equipment and engineering system because these directly affect the quality and safety of medicine storage.

To successfully pass the inspection, pharmacy premises must meet the following standards.

Engineering Systems and Indoor Climate

A pharmacy cannot operate without basic engineering systems. The premises must have heating and ventilation. The heating system must be reliable and maintain a stable temperature. Together with the ventilation system, it must ensure an appropriate indoor climate in all areas.

For pharmacies in cities and urban-type settlements, centralized or autonomous sewage and water supply systems are also mandatory.

Temperature and Humidity Control (Critically Important!)

Medicines are a highly sensitive type of product that can quickly deteriorate if stored under improper conditions. For this reason, the law requires strict environmental monitoring:

• The pharmacy must have technical equipment for continuous monitoring of temperature and relative humidity, including certified hygrometers and thermometers.
• Medicines that require a “cold chain,” such as vaccines, sera, and certain drops, must be stored in dedicated refrigeration equipment.
• For controlled, narcotic, or potent medicines, the storage room must include designated space for a safe or metal cabinet.

Sanitary Facilities and Staff Hygiene

Maintaining cleanliness is one of the key requirements for obtaining a pharmacy license. The documentation submitted to the State Service of Ukraine on Medicines and Drugs Control must confirm the availability of the following facilities:

1. Restroom. A fully equipped sanitary facility must be provided, including a toilet and washbasin (for pharmacies located in cities and urban-type settlements).
2. Hand hygiene facilities. A designated, properly equipped area for hand washing and sanitary hand treatment must be provided within the pharmacy.
3. Staff amenities. The staff room must have a separate refrigerator for employees’ food, as well as appropriate furniture for eating. This ensures that staff meals are kept completely separate from medicines and other pharmaceutical products.

Cleaning Procedures and Equipment Labeling

Cleanliness in a pharmacy must be maintained according to strict procedures, and ordinary household cleaning equipment is not sufficient. All cleaning equipment must have color-coded or written labels. The same mop cannot be used to clean the floor in the medicine storage room and the restroom. Each area must have its own designated set of cleaning equipment, stored in a specially designated room or cabinet.

The changing area must have cabinets that allow staff to store personal outdoor clothing separately from work clothing.

Please note: All monitoring devices, including thermometers and hygrometers, and all refrigeration equipment must have technical passports and valid verification certificates. Inspectors often check these documents during the licensing inspection.

Accessibility (Inclusion): The Main Licensing Challenge

Creating a barrier-free environment is an area where the State Service of Ukraine on Medicines and Drugs Control takes an uncompromising approach. Moreover, government regulation in this area is becoming increasingly strict.

Previously, accessibility information was provided as a brief item in the general application details. This has now changed significantly.

Important legislative update: Under Resolution No. 275 of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated March 2, 2026, the Licensing Conditions were supplemented with a completely new Annex 30. From now on, businesses applying for a license must submit a separate document titled Information on the Accessibility of Business Activity Locations for Persons with Disabilities and Other Persons with Reduced Mobility.

This means that accessibility has been elevated to a higher level of regulatory oversight, and a license cannot be issued without a detailed accessibility report. To ensure that a pharmacy complies with the state building codes and successfully passes the licensing process, it is necessary to meet a comprehensive set of technical requirements.

Step-Free Entrance (Ramp or Lift)

The route from the street to the sales floor must be fully accessible to wheelchair users and parents with strollers. The installation of a ramp is subject to strict state building standards regarding its slope, which must not exceed 8%, as well as its width and the installation of two-level handrails on both sides.

If the architectural features of the building or a high entrance step make it impossible to install a properly sloped ramp, the only solution is to install a certified vertical or inclined platform lift.

Important warning: A standard “staff assistance call button” cannot be used as an alternative to an accessible entrance. Today, the State Service of Ukraine on Medicines and Drugs Control and licensing experts consider such a button only an additional service, not a substitute for a barrier-free entrance. The entrance must be independently accessible to people with reduced mobility without assistance from other people.

Doorways and Thresholds

Entrance doors and doors inside the customer service area must have a clear opening width of at least 0.9 meters to allow a wheelchair user to pass through freely. As for thresholds, their height at the entrance and along accessible routes must not exceed 2 cm. High steps immediately behind the door are not permitted.

Navigation and Information Accessibility

Accessibility is not limited to ramps. It also includes access to information. Tactile paving before the entrance for people with visual impairments is also mandatory. The staff assistance call button must be installed at an appropriate height of 0.85 to 1.2 meters and accompanied by an information sign, including Braille. It must operate in all weather conditions and provide a clear signal inside the pharmacy.

The Key Document: The Expert’s Report

Simply building a ramp “by eye” or following a contractor’s advice is a direct path to having a pharmacy license application rejected. The new Information required under Annex 30 requires official documentary confirmation of accessibility.

You must engage a certified specialist qualified to conduct technical inspections of buildings and structures and holding a valid qualification certificate. The expert performs instrumental measurements, verifies compliance with all applicable state building standards, and issues an official accessibility report.

The expert’s credentials, including the qualification certificate and issuing authority, as well as detailed information about the document itself, including its date, number, and title, must now be entered separately into the licensing file submitted to the State Service of Ukraine on Medicines and Drugs Control.

Advice for investors: Never sign a lease for pharmacy premises without first having the location audited by an accessibility expert. If it turns out that a ramp cannot physically be installed because of dense urban development or sidewalk constraints, and the building owner does not allow a platform lift to be installed, the premises will never qualify for a pharmacy license.

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Why Independent Pharmacy Launches Often Fail

Most entrepreneurs make the same mistake: they entrust the preparation of the premises to an ordinary construction crew or rely on assurances from the landlord. The landlord may claim that “there used to be a pharmacy here,” while the contractor promises to do everything “according to the standards.”

In many cases, the typical do-it-yourself process of opening a pharmacy looks like this:

1. Finding premises through a real estate agent who is unfamiliar with licensing requirements.
2. Signing a lease agreement and paying a two-month security deposit.
3. Ordering a designer renovation from a construction crew that focuses on aesthetics rather than state building standards.
4. Submitting the documents to the State Service of Ukraine on Medicines and Drugs Control.
5. Receiving an official rejection because a structural wall is 15 centimeters out of position or the ramp slope is 12% instead of the required 8%.

Inspectors from the State Service of Ukraine on Medicines and Drugs Control do not accept arguments such as “we will fix it later.” That is not how the process works. If a discrepancy is identified during the verification of the submitted information or a pre-licensing inspection, the application will be rejected, and you will have to start over while dealing with high unexpected costs.

The Optimal Market Solution: Legal Audit and Pharmacy Design for Licensing Compliance

A truly reliable way to avoid these financial losses is to change the sequence of actions. The optimal approach used by systematic businesses is a legal and technical pre-audit (a preliminary expert assessment) of the property before signing a lease agreement and starting any renovation work.

Our approach is based on assessing the property against the State Service of Ukraine on Medicines and Drugs Control checklist. We examine the premises from the perspective of a licensing inspector:

• Is it physically possible to ensure that the pharmacy is completely isolated?
• Does the entrance design allow for the installation of a compliant ramp with the required slope?
• Will the actual floor area remain sufficient to meet licensing requirements after the walls are plastered and the finishing work is completed?

If the premises have critical deficiencies that cannot be eliminated, such as the inability to create a separate entrance or the lack of a technical possibility to install a ramp, we say so directly: “You should not lease these premises because they will not qualify for a pharmacy license.” This can save hundreds of thousands of hryvnias in investment costs before the project even begins.

In addition, our turnkey pharmacy opening and licensing services include:

• Development of a compliant pharmacy zoning plan: We design the layout of the sales floor, medicine storage room, staff and utility areas, and cleaning equipment storage areas in accordance with licensing requirements.
• Preparation and submission of the documentation package: We accurately prepare the complete set of required documents and oversee the entire review process with the State Service of Ukraine on Medicines and Drugs Control until the licensing decision is officially issued.

Every day that a completed pharmacy remains idle because a license application has been rejected represents a direct financial loss for your business. Entrust the technical and legal aspects of your project to professionals who have been coordinating licensing processes for more than 15 years and continuously monitor changes in legislation.

Contact us to receive legal support for your project in the near future.

Learn more about how to obtain a pharmacy license or make changes to an existing license here.