Bringing medicines into Switzerland for personal use
Arriving with your usual medication, or getting a refill sent from home? Swiss law lets you bring medicines for your own use, but only up to one month of treatment. For longer stays you will need a Swiss prescription: see GP and pharmacy.
Key facts
- One month of treatment, for yourself only. "Les particuliers sont autorisés à importer en Suisse, pour leurs besoins personnels, des médicaments autres que des stupéfiants, dans la limite d'un mois de traitement" (Swissmedic).
- No document needed for ordinary medicines, and it does not matter whether the product is authorised in Switzerland (Swissmedic).
- Not for others: "L'importation pour des tiers n'est pas autorisée", not even for family (Swissmedic).
- No exceptions above one month: "Aucune exception ou autorisation spéciale n'est possible" (Swissmedic).
- Narcotics (stupéfiants): at most 30 days of treatment, carried by the patient in person (Swissmedic, BAZG).
1. How much counts as "one month"
- The quantity "correspond à la prescription du médecin ou à la recommandation posologique figurant sur la notice d'emballage" (Swissmedic). Keep the prescription or package leaflet to show the dose.
- Swissmedic recommends carrying medicines in their original packaging, in your hand luggage (Swissmedic).
- CE-marked medical devices for personal use (for example blood glucose test strips) can be imported without restriction (Swissmedic).
2. Medicines with narcotics or psychotropic substances
- Maximum: the quantity for 30 days of treatment (Swissmedic).
- A narcotic medicine "ne peut être importé que s'il est transporté par le voyageur malade en personne" (Swissmedic, Médicaments par Internet). So it cannot be posted to you.
- Swissmedic recommends a transport certificate (certificat de transport) for each medicine, issued where you got it. There is one model for travellers from Schengen countries and one for others (Swissmedic).
- Doping products (for example some containing testosterone) follow separate rules: contact Swiss Sport Integrity. Private persons may not import banned doping products in any quantity (BAZG).
3. Staying longer than a month
Swissmedic's advice:
- Go to a Swiss pharmacy (pharmacie) to ask what is possible.
- Get the medicine prescribed by a doctor in Switzerland.
Find a doctor or pharmacy: GP and pharmacy. Whether basic insurance pays: Health insurance (LAMal).
4. Ordering online or by post
- The same one-month, personal-use limit applies to parcels (Swissmedic, Médicaments par Internet).
- Risk: if customs hold a shipment and Swissmedic finds it illegal or risky, it is destroyed or returned, and "vous devez payer les frais occasionnés par l'affaire aux autorités (comptez au minimum 540.- francs)" (Swissmedic).
- A prescription only entitles you to medicines authorised in Switzerland, "en aucun cas de préparations génériques ou de contrefaçons par le biais d'Internet" (Swissmedic).
- VAT on parcels: the CHF 150 traveller allowance below does not apply to parcels. For posted goods, import VAT is not collected only if it is CHF 5 or less per tax assessment (DFF ordinance RS 641.204, art. 1). Details: VAT and customs on online orders.
5. Customs duties when you carry them
- If you bring medicines across the border yourself, normal traveller rules apply: goods carried in person up to a total value of CHF 150 per person per day are free of VAT (RS 641.204 art. 1 let. c); above that, VAT of 2.6 % or 8.1 % is due on the total value (BAZG). Keep the receipt.
- Moving with your belongings: Customs when moving household goods.
6. Leaving Switzerland
Other countries have their own rules. Ask the embassy of your destination country (Swissmedic).