This tutorial which goes through the Legislation exam of December 2016.

Please note that I am not affiliated with the Pharmacy and Poisons Board, nor did I write the questions.

You need to have an understanding on how to look up drug classification. There is a tutorial which does that.

You need to know how to look up the ordinances and regulations on the HK e-legislation website. These you can either view on the website, or you can download it onto your computer and view it as a PDF which you have the option of printing out.

Relevant ordinances and regulations

• Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance Cap 138
• Pharmacy and Poisons Regulations Cap 138A
• Dangerous Drugs Ordinance Cap 134
• Dangerous Drugs Regulations Cap 134A
• Antibiotics Ordinance Cap 137
• Antibiotics Ordinance Cap 137A
• Undesirable Medical Advertisements Ordinance Cap 231
• Import and Export Ordinance Cap 60

The wording of the legislation may be difficult to understand. You can see how I have summarised some of the sections, or you can obtain a copy of the PSHK's forensics lecture notes (contact me if you want more info). Other references include the websites of the Drug Office and Pharmacy and Poisons Board (PPBHK). The PPBHK have produced publications such as the Code of Practise for Authorised Sellers of Poisons which are also useful for deciphering the legislation text.

I have included references to the Ordinances (i.e. 'section') and the subsidiary Regulations ('regulation'). For the answers I give an abridged version of the legislation, for exact wording you need to refer back to original legislation text.

In the exam it is not necessary to remember the exact numbers of all the sections and regulations nor the exact wording of the legislation to obtain a pass. You do need to demonstrate you know the answer by being able to list out all or most of the key points. You can practise by trying to summarise the relevant sections and regulations without removing important information.

Bear in mind I have had unlimited time and access to references to answer the questions. You won't be expected to remember every single detail!

The structure of the exam is the same every year, consisting of five questions, the first one on drug classification, and then 4 long essay questions. Each question is worth 20 marks, each essay question is divided into three parts. There is no indication on the mark distribution for each part, but usually at least one part will be a long answer, and one part will be a short answer. You may wish to think about the weighting of each part during the exam to guide you on how much to write for the answer. Also look at what is being asked in the other exam questions to avoid unnecessary repetition.

If you have any questions please contact me via my Facebook group messenger.

I would also like to thank Joe Blais for proofreading my answers and also providing additional clarity on question 4b.

Sharon