Pay attention to carrying controlled drugs into and out of a country
【Update Date:2023-05-18】unit:管制藥品組
As COVID-19 epidemic eases and countries
reopen borders, people travel abroad more frequently for tourism or business.
However, pharmaceutical regulations vary from country to country, to avoid
penalty for breaking the law, nationals carrying controlled drugs for personal
use need to comply with the regulations of the country of entry. The Food and
Drug Administration, Ministry of Health and Welfare (TFDA) reminds travelers to
carry a certificate of diagnosis or a copy of the prescriptions from a medical
institution for customs inspection.
For nationals who have received treatment
abroad and returned to Taiwan with controlled drugs, according to the customs
declaration instructions, the medicine is limited to treating illness of the
passenger his/her self, a medical institution certificate is required, the
amount cannot exceed that on the prescription, and the medicine should be
carried, send by mail or express delivery is not allowed.
Controlled drugs include addictive narcotics and
psychotropic drugs (e.g., sleeping pills) which are strictly regulated by all
countries in the world, commonly used sedative hypnotics such as zopidem,
triazolam, and flunitrazepam, as well as addictive narcotics of morphine and fentanyl
are all controlled drugs, and can only be used for medical and scientific
purposes. If the source of the controlled drugs is unknown or used illegally,
that would be regarded as illegal drugs and regulated by the Narcotics Hazard
Prevention Act.
TFDA reiterates its call to
nationals travel abroad for tourism or business, to also carry a diagnostic
certificate or a copy of prescription from the attending physician if carrying
medicines for personal use. If the medicines belong to schedule 1 to 3 controlled
drugs (the controlled drugs list can be found on TFDA website (http://www.fda.gov.tw), you can send to TFDA a declaration and
medical diagnostic certificate to apply for a certification document according
to article 18 of the Enforcement Rules for the Controlled Drugs Act. Before
travel abroad, you can also check at Bureau of Consular Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ website at (http://www.boca.gov.tw), to find out if there are any
particular regulations to avoid violating the law of the country of entry.