Welcome to the tutorial for the December 2017 Hong Kong Pharmacy Legislation exam!

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

Before starting this tutorial, you need to understand how to determine a drug product's legal classification. We have a free tutorial which explains this important skill.

Familiarize yourself with how to look up the ordinances and regulations on the Hong Kong Government e-legislation website. The most current version of the legislation can be viewed online, or you can download it and view it as a PDF which can be printed. While preparing for the exam there will be a lot of cross referencing between the various pieces of legislation. Going back and forth on a hard copy may be easier, and allows you to make highlights and personal notes.

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. Other references include the websites of the Drug Office and the Pharmacy and Poisons Board (PPBHK). The PPBHK has produced publications such as the Code of Practise for Authorised Sellers of Poisons which are also useful for deciphering the legislation.

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 details you need to refer back to original text.

Sometimes I add the text from the legislation at the bottom of the answer, but you should still also refer to the most current full version of the law.

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 at least most of the key points. You can practise by trying to summarise the relevant sections and regulations without removing important information.

The structure of the exam is the same every year. It consists of five questions, the first question is on drug classification, which is followed by four long essay questions. Each question is worth 20 marks, and each essay question is further divided into several 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. I have provided my own speculations on the mark distribution, as this may help you think about the weighting of each part during the exam. 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 the Facebook group messenger.

Finally, remember to review the most updated version of the legislation online, about one month prior to the exam, since it is possible that recent changes have been made to the legislation.