The association was founded in 1881 to protect the interests of pharmacies, and to deal with the authorities and other industries on behalf of the members. Today, the Norwegian Pharmacy Association focus on the professional development of pharmacies, the legislative and economic framework set by the Government, and the development of technology and e-health services. All Norwegian pharmacies are members of the association. The board consists of representatives from independent pharmacies, hospital pharmacies and the pharmacy chains Apotek 1, Boots apotek and Vitus apotek. The Norwegian Pharmacy Association’s main aims are to ensure that pharmacies have: - as good and predictable a regulatory framework as possible - as strong a position and framework as possible for competing with other sales - - channels within the product and service areas in which the pharmacies have, or wish to have, a commercial interest best possible political awareness and acceptance. As a secondary purpose, the Norwegian Pharmacy Association performs tasks and carries out functions on behalf of the trade as and when the organisation’s members consider this appropriate. Such tasks and functions cannot be within areas defined by the members as competitive arenas. As part of its secondary purpose, the Norwegian Pharmacy Association currently runs Farmalogg AS (the Norwegian Article Number Registry - VareWeb), and Serviceproduksjon AS.