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Using a prescription in another country

The EU rules that make a prescription portable, the elements it must carry, the medicines that need a travel certificate, and what a European Health Insurance Card does and does not pay for.

This describes how pharmacy systems work; it is not medical advice, not a diagnosis and not a directory. It carries no pharmacy names, addresses, telephone numbers, opening times or prices, because those go out of date faster than a page can be republished — confirm anything time-sensitive with the pharmacy itself. Nothing here is a reason to start, stop or change a medicine: that belongs to your prescriber, and the pharmacist at the counter is the fastest professional to ask in the meantime.

Why a foreign prescription is often refused

Not because the pharmacist is being difficult, but because they cannot safely act on it. A prescription written for domestic use carries a national trade name, a prescriber identifier that means nothing abroad, and abbreviations in a language the dispenser may not read. EU law fixed this by defining what a prescription intended for use in another member state has to contain, and the recognition follows the format. The corollary is that a prescription which does not carry those elements is not portable, however genuine it is. Ask for the right document before you travel; the conversation is thirty seconds with your own prescriber and an afternoon with a foreign one.

What the document must carry

Commission Implementing Directive 2012/52/EU, made under the cross-border healthcare directive, sets the minimum: the patient's family name, first name and date of birth; the date of issue; the prescriber's family name, first name, professional qualification, contact details, work address and signature; and for the medicine, the common name — that is, the active substance — together with the pharmaceutical form, the quantity, the strength and the dosage regimen. A brand name may be used only in defined situations, in particular for biological medicinal products, with the reason given. That list is worth reading before an appointment, because a prescriber asked for "a cross-border prescription" will produce it, and a prescriber asked for "a prescription for my holiday" may not.

Where the electronic route already works

Alongside the paper rules, the European cross-border health services allow a pharmacy in one connected country to retrieve a prescription from another connected country's national store. Estonia and Finland were the first pair and the service runs in both directions; other countries have joined and the list keeps changing, which is why the sensible source is the European Commission's own page rather than a snapshot. Where it works it is genuinely seamless: identity document, and the pharmacist can see the prescription. Where it does not, you are back to the paper document above.

Controlled medicines need a certificate

Medicines containing controlled substances — many strong painkillers, some sleep and anxiety medicines, some ADHD medicines — are not covered by the ordinary rules, and carrying them across a border without documentation can turn a holiday into a customs problem. Within the Schengen area the mechanism is a certificate issued by the competent national authority in your own country, obtained in advance, naming you, the medicine, the quantity and the duration of travel. Outside Schengen, the destination country's own rules apply and some of them are strict about medicines that are ordinary at home. Check with your own national authority well before you fly; these certificates are not issued at an airport.

Money, and what the card actually does

A European Health Insurance Card entitles you to medically necessary state healthcare during a temporary stay in another EU or EEA country on the same terms as a resident of that country — which means on their terms, not yours. If residents there pay a co-payment at the pharmacy, so do you, and if the medicine is not reimbursed there, it is not reimbursed for you either. The card is not travel insurance, does not cover repatriation and does not cover planned treatment abroad. Expect to pay at the counter and keep the receipt; whether anything comes back afterwards is a question for your own insurer or health fund.

Practical packing

Keep medicines in their original packaging with the dispensing label attached — that is what identifies both you and the product to anyone who asks. Carry them in hand luggage, both because hold baggage gets lost and because a hold is cold enough to matter for some products; keeping medicines at home covers the temperature side. Take a photograph of each box, including the leaflet's active substance line, so that a replacement can be matched abroad without a shared language. Take more than the trip needs, within what your prescription allows. And carry a written list of active substances, strengths and doses — the same list that makes any medical encounter abroad shorter.

Sources: Directive 2011/24/EU on patients' rights in cross-border healthcare · Commission Implementing Directive 2012/52/EU — recognition of prescriptions issued in another Member State · European Commission — electronic cross-border health services (MyHealth@EU) · European Commission — cross-border healthcare · checked 2026-09-08

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