Dutch court upholds seizure of DocMorris accounts over unpaid German fines
A court in Limburg, the Netherlands, has ruled that the seizure of mail-order pharmacy DocMorris's bank accounts was lawful, after the German Chamber of Pharmacists sought enforcement over years of unpaid fines for banned advertising. DocMorris has four weeks to appeal.
Accounts seized in the Netherlands
A court in the Dutch city of Limburg has ruled that the seizure of bank accounts belonging to German mail-order pharmacy DocMorris was lawful. The seizure was requested by the Chamber of Pharmacists of North Rhine (Apothekerkammer Nordrhein) after the company, for years, failed to pay fines ("Ordnungsgelder") imposed by German courts for continuing banned advertising.
Background of the dispute
The dispute dates back to 2020, when the Stuttgart Regional Court banned DocMorris from using certain price advertising. According to the chamber, the company kept advertising with the prohibited pricing anyway, prompting repeated fines. In July 2024 the court imposed a €50,000 fine, which became final after the Stuttgart Higher Regional Court rejected DocMorris's appeal in December 2024. As the advertising continued, a second fine of €60,000 followed in April 2025, and a third of €100,000 in October 2025 — also now legally binding.
Lawyers for the chamber, from the firm Friedrich Graf von Westphalen, say unpaid fines have cost the German state millions of euros over recent years, according to the "Pharmazeutische Zeitung".
Enforcement abroad
Because enforcing detention in lieu of payment is not possible abroad, the Stuttgart court advised the chamber to pursue enforcement in the Netherlands and provided the necessary forms. The chamber hired a Dutch bailiff, who seized DocMorris's accounts and has already recovered part of the outstanding sum. DocMorris challenged the seizure in court, arguing the chamber had no authority to collect the money since it was owed to the state treasury, and accusing the chamber of trying to keep the funds for itself.
Court ruling and reactions
The Limburg court dismissed the challenge, ruling that the chamber is entitled to enforce legally binding German fines abroad on behalf of the state treasury, as long as the treasury has not taken over collection itself. Lawyer Anne Bongers-Gehlert called the ruling "a pointer in the right direction," showing that German fine orders can be enforced at least within the EU. Bettina Mecking (spelled Bettine in some reports), the chamber's managing director and legal counsel, told Bild: "Anyone operating on the German market must observe the legal framework that applies here," adding that a foreign company headquarters does not shield against enforcement of German court rulings.
The ruling is not yet final — DocMorris has four weeks to appeal. The company declined to comment on the ongoing proceedings, saying only that it does not discuss pending cases. DocMorris, Europe's largest mail-order pharmacy with more than 11 million customers, mostly in Germany, has been headquartered in Heerlen, the Netherlands, near the German border, since 2004. In the first quarter of 2026 its revenue on the German market reached €327.2 million, up 11.1% year-on-year, according to Deutsche Apotheker Zeitung.
