Green cross (pharmacy sign)

How to read it

The Ordre national des pharmaciens calls the green cross and the pharmacy caduceus the emblems of the pharmacy: distinctive signs of the pharmacist that the public recognizes. Its national council registered the green cross as a trade mark with France’s industrial property office, INPI, on 24 April 1984, and the caduceus on 5 July 1967; the marks let the order set the rules for their use and defend them against imitation. The order says that a green cross or a similar symbol on a product can suggest that the product has therapeutic properties and was made or sold under a pharmacist’s control, and that it acts against any filing or improper use of either sign. The second French symbol, a snake twisting round a bowl on a stem, is the bowl of Hygieia.

Also searched as: croix verte, green cross, green cross pharmacy, green cross symbol, pharmacy cross.

Why green and not red

The Connexion, an English-language magazine in France, says the pharmacy cross was first red on white or white on red, chosen for its association with the Red Cross, founded in 1864, and that many drug makers put a red or white cross on their packaging. A law of 1913 stopped the practice because of confusion with the charity, and green came in, though neon red crosses could still be seen in the 1950s. It gives two theories for the colour: that many medicines are plant based, or that military pharmacists wore green armbands in the 18th and 19th centuries.

The red cross is still off limits. The International Committee of the Red Cross lists a pharmacy displaying a red cross or a red crescent on its shopfront sign among the uses of the red cross emblem that are not authorized.

Look-alike: the first aid sign

A white cross on a green square is a different sign: the first aid sign, E003 in the international safety sign standard ISO 7010. The pharmacy’s cross is itself green; the first aid sign’s cross is white, inside a green square.

The EU logo for online pharmacies

A pharmacy registered to sell medicines online in the European Union shows a different mark, the EU common logo, whose design Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 699/2014 sets out and which has applied since 1 July 2015. The European Medicines Agency describes it as a logo in shades of green and grey with a white flag: the national flag of the country where the seller is established goes in the white rectangle, and clicking the logo leads to that country’s register of online retailers. The agency says a logo showing the EU flag is not authentic.