Section 4Sec./Art. 4

Prohibited Acts. The following acts are declared unlawful and therefore prohibited:

a) The manufacture, sale, offering for sale, donation, distribution, trafficking, brokering, exportation, or importation or possession of counterfeit drugs as defined in Section 3 hereof not otherwise covered by Republic Act No. 3720, as amended.

The presence or availability of such counterfeit drugs within the premises of any entity engaged in the sale, manufacture or distribution of drugs and/or pharmaceutical products or in a private residence, or in public or private vehicle, or in the premises not covered by a valid license to operate from the Bureau, shall constitute a prima facie evidence of violation of this Act: Provided, however, That this presumption shall not apply to the legitimate owners of trademarks, trade names or other identifying marks, or the legitimate or authorized representatives or agents of such owners, who have in their possession counterfeit drugs which bear the trademarks, trade names or marks if they can show the sales invoices or official receipts evidencing their purchase from a drugstore, manufacturer or distributor suspected by them of dealing in counterfeit drugs involving the trademarks, trade names and other similar identifying marks registered in their names: Provided, further, That such counterfeit products shall be reported and immediately turned over to the Bureau: Provided, finally, That compliance with the preceding proviso shall be made within a reasonable period from the date of purchase of such counterfeit drugs as indicated in the sales invoice, official receipt, or other similar documents abovementioned to the time the counterfeit drugs are reported and turned over to the Bureau;

b) Possession of any such counterfeit drugs. However, any person found in possession of counterfeit drugs, in violation of this subsection, shall be excepted from liability under the provisions of this Act after:

1. presentation of sales invoices, official receipts, or other legally acceptable documents evidencing his purchase thereof from a drugstore, distributor, manufacturer, hospital pharmacy or dispensary, or any other person or place duly licensed to sell and/ or dispense drugs or medicines, and indicating therein the batch and lot numbers, as well as the expiry dates of such drugs; or

2. presentation of certificates and other documents evidencing the importation or exportation of the counterfeit drugs found in his possession as required by existing laws, including those documents required in the preceding paragraph covering the commercial transactions involving counterfeit drugs.

In both cases, the subject counterfeit drugs must not on their face, appear to be as such, or do not bear any marking or any patently unusual characteristic sufficient to arouse the suspicion of a reasonable and prudent person that such drugs are counterfeit. Furthermore, the amount or volume of counterfeit drugs held is such that it does not negate or is inconsistent with the averment that the same are for personal use, notwithstanding the presentation by the possessor of medical records and other similar documents accompanying and justifying the use of such drugs;

c) Forging, counterfeiting, simulating or falsely representing, or without proper authority, using any mark, stamp, tag, label or other identification mark or device authorized or required by Republic Act No. 3720, as amended, and/or the regulations promulgated under this Act;

d) Photocopying, duplicating, altering, printing, transferring, obliterating or removing the approved label or any part thereof, lawfully belonging to another person, for the purpose of using such label or a part thereof on any counterfeit drug: Provided, That if the person who committed any of the acts enumerated in this paragraph and the person who used the labels produced thereby are not one and the same person and the former had knowledge of the purpose for which the labels are intended, the former shall also be liable under this Act notwithstanding the failure of the latter to achieve the intended purpose; and

e) Making, selling, or concealing any punch, dye, plate or any other equipment or instrument designed to print, imprint or reproduce the trademark, trade name or other identifying mark of another registered producer or any likeness thereof, upon any drug product or device or its container or label without authority from the legitimate owners of the trademark or trade name.