63.— (1) For the purposes of section 35 and so much of this Part as relates to that section, it is professional misconduct by a registered pharmacist if—

(a) he or she, or

(b) to the knowledge of the registered pharmacist, his or her partner or employee,

has a beneficial interest in a medical practice.

(2) For the purposes of section 36 and so much of this Part as relates to that section, it is misconduct of the kind referred to in that section by a pharmacy owner if—

(a) the pharmacy owner, or

(b) to the knowledge of the pharmacy owner, a partner or employee of the pharmacy owner,

has a beneficial interest in a medical practice.

(3) For the purposes of section 45 of the Medical Practitioners Act 1978 and so much of Part V of that Act as relates to that section or any enactments re-enacting those provisions, it is professional misconduct by a registered medical practitioner if—

(a) he or she, or

(b) to the knowledge of the registered medical practitioner, his or her partner or employee,

has a beneficial interest in a registered retail pharmacy business.

(4) For the purposes of this section, an interest consisting of the ownership of a medical practice or registered retail pharmacy business (or part thereof)—

(a) is not to be taken to be a beneficial interest in the practice or business if the benefit deriving from the interest consists of the benefit of ownership alone, but

(b) is to be taken to be a beneficial interest in the practice or business if the benefit so deriving consists of or includes a financial benefit accruing to the registered pharmacist or registered medical practitioner in the exercise of his or her profession as such or, as the case may be, to the owner of the registered retail pharmacy business in his, her or its capacity as such.

(5) In this section—

(a) “beneficial interest” in a medical practice or registered retail pharmacy business includes—

(i) where the practice or business or a part of it is owned by—

(I) a company, the interest of a director of or shareholder in the company,

(II) a corporate body which is not a company, the interest of a member of the body,

(ii) where the practice or business is carried on in leased premises, the interest of the landlord in the rent or other consideration for the tenancy where that rent or other consideration—

(I) does not represent the rental value of the tenancy on the open market and the difference may reasonably be attributed to the existence of a commercial relationship between the parties other than that of landlord and tenant, or

(II) is ascertained by reference to the receipts or profits of a registered retail pharmacy business or a medical practice,

and a person shall be regarded, for the purposes of this section, as having a beneficial interest in such a practice or business if his or her spouse F55[or civil partner within the meaning of the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010] or dependent child has such an interest in it;

“dependent child” means, in relation to a person, a child of that person who is under the age of 18 years or, if he or she has attained that age, is a child to whom paragraph (i) or (ii) of the definition of “dependent child of the family” in section 3(a) of the Family Law (Maintenance of Spouses and Children) Act 1976 applies;

“employee” means a person who works under a contract of employment (or has entered such a contract in order to do so) and includes a fixed-term employee and a temporary employee;

F56[…]

“registered medical practitioner” has the meaning given by the Medical Practitioners Act 1978 or any enactment re-enacting that definition;

“shareholder” does not include a shareholder in a company whose holding does not exceed one half of one per cent of the total value of shares issued by the company;

“spouse” does not include a spouse who is a registered pharmacist, a registered pharmaceutical assistant or a registered medical practitioner;

and

(b) references to leased premises, the landlord, the tenancy, the rental value and the tenant include, in a case where premises are made available for use or occupation on licence or similarly, references respectively to the premises so made available, the person who makes them available, the use or occupation, the value of that use or occupation and the person who uses or occupies them.

(6) A—

(a) pharmacist does not commit professional misconduct by virtue of subsection (1)(b),

(b) pharmacy owner does not commit misconduct by virtue of subsection (2)(b),

(c) medical practitioner does not commit professional misconduct by virtue of subsection (3)(b),

if he or she, within 21 days of becoming aware that his or her partner has a beneficial interest of the kind respectively referred to in those provisions, notifies the Society (in the case of the pharmacist or the pharmacy owner) or the Medical Council (in the case of the medical practitioner) of the existence and nature of the interest.