Homeopathic practice
In September 2011 Sweden’s Supreme Administrative Court ruled allowing doctors to recommend homeopathic treatments to their patients. Until then it was only allowed to non-medically qualified practitioners.
According to the existing Law on administrating complementary and alternative treatments outside the healthcare system – Lag 1960:409 om förbud i vissa fall mot verksamhet på hälso- och sjukvårdens område – non-medically qualified practitioners are allowed to provide medical care (including homeopathy) with certain specified exceptions. They are not allowed to treat children under 8, serious communicable diseases, nor certain conditions like cancer, diabetes, epilepsy or pathological conditions related to pregnancy or childbirth. The law includes the possibility of imposing punishment in case a person’s life or health is endangered.
Directive 2001/83/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the Community code relating to medicinal products for human use, which includes homeopathic medicinal products, was transposed into the revised pharmaceutical legislation – Läkemedelsförordningen 2006:272 (Medicines regulation) – which came into force in May 2006 and was based on theLäkemedelslagen 1992:859 (Medicines Act).