Want to take medicines abroad?

Taking your own medicines on a trip

Here's what to watch out for if you are already taking medication at home:

• Take enough medicine with you for the whole trip.
• Take your medicines with you in the pharmacy packaging.
• Bring a list of the medicines you are taking. This is called a medicine overview or medicine passport.
• For some medicines, you need an additional certificate. This is called a medication statement.

Medication overview

When travelling abroad, it is best to bring a list of the medicines you are taking (medicine list). This will help you better and faster when you need to see a doctor or pharmacy.

The medicine summary states the following:

• the name of the medicine
• how much you use per day
• what you use it for
• whether you have an allergy to medicines

Ask your pharmacy for a medicine summary or prepare one yourself, preferably in English or the language of your travel destination. Keep the summary with your passport or ID card.

Medicine statement

Some medicines are not allowed to be taken abroad. For example, medicines for ADHD, strong painkillers, sleeping pills and sedatives. To take these medicines with you, you need a medicine declaration. There are 3 types of declarations:

• A Schengen medicine certificate,
• An English-language medicine statement,
• The medicine declaration for Turkey.

Which statement you need depends on your medicine, your travel destination and the duration of your trip. The tool Taking medicines on travel help from the CAK will give you personal advice and the correct declaration. Please note that your GP may charge a fee for preparing this declaration.