PZN Registration

PZN (Pharma Central Number) is a required identification for products sold on the German health market.

Introduction

What is a PZN?

The PZN (Pharma Central Number) is used to identify medical and health products in the German health system. The number consists of eight numbers from zero to nine, with the last number being a check digit. It not only supports the identification of health products but also the billing of pharmacies with health insurance companies. The PZN identifies products by manufacturer, name, dosage form, active-ingredient strength, and package size. If necessary for clear differentiation from other products, other criteria such as colour, shape, and size are included, for which a separate PZN is created.

Process

How is a PZN registered?

IFA GmbH in Frankfurt is responsible for registering the PZN. First, an IFA provider contract must be concluded for this and the article data must be entered into the IFA database. The prerequisites for inclusion in the IFA database are, among others, that the article is customary in pharmacies according to the Pharmacy Operations Ordinance (Apothekenbetriebsordnung). Furthermore, it must be marketable in Germany without restrictions. The supplier must fulfil the legal and factual requirements for placing the products on the market. These include, for example, distribution law, patent law, and that the articles are basically available on the market and can be obtained from pharmacies.

We are happy to help you with the time-consuming process of PZN registration for your products. We have already done this several times and will be happy to do this work for you or advise you on this process from start to finish.