Travelling with medicines
- Published: March 16, 2020
- Last updated: August 18, 2023
When travelling to Sweden you can take your medicines with you as long as they are for you or your accompanying pet, and you need them for medical reasons. If you are travelling from Sweden to another country with your medicines, the regulations in the country you are visiting apply.
Generally, when bringing medicines into a country, you need to be able to show that the medicines you are carrying are for your personal use. This can be done for example by leaving the pharmacy sticker with your name on the medicine, by bringing a copy of your prescription or a certificate from your doctor.
In the same way you need to be able to show that medicines for your accompanying pet have been prescribed to your pet by a veterinary surgeon.
Travelling to Sweden with medicines
When travelling to Sweden the amount of medicines you can take with you are regulated. Stricter rules apply to medicinal products containing narcotic or doping substances.
How much medicine can I bring?
The rules differ depending on if you are travelling from a country within the EEA (European Economic Area) or outside the EEA.
If you travel from a country within the EEA you are allowed to bring one year supply of medicines.
If you travel from a country outside the EEA you are allowed to bring three months’ supply of medicines.
Narcotic medicinal products
Examples of medicinal products classified as narcotics are some categories of sleeping pills, pain killers and ADHD medicines. Different rules apply depending on class of narcotic, which country you are travelling from and in which country your residence is.
Information regarding narcotic substances and to what class they belong can be found in regulation LVFS 2011:10.
Special regulations for some medicinal products with tramadol, codeine, ethylmorphine and some other substances
For some medicinal products containing narcotic substances, the same travelling restrictions apply as for regular medicines. These preparations are not considered to be narcotic for the sake of travelling restrictions, if they are for medical use only. Please see the appendix to regulation LVFS 2011:9 for the full list of substances.
Travelling from a country within Schengen or from a country that applies the Schengen regulations
If your residence is in Sweden, you can bring:
- five days supply of narcotic medicinal products class II and III
- three weeks supply of narcotic medicinal products class IV and V
If you do not have a residence in Sweden, you can bring narcotic medicinal products with you to last during your stay in Sweden, but for a maximum of 30 days.
For some narcotic substances listed in the regulation you need a Schengen certificate (in Swedish):
Travelling from a country outside of the Schengen area
You can bring:
- five days supply of narcotic medicinal products class II and III
- three weeks supply of narcotic medicinal products class IV and V
If you are a resident of another country and you visit Sweden temporarily, you can bring 90 days supply of narcotic medicinal products class IV and V.
Medicinal products containing doping substances
Examples of doping substances are testosterone and growth hormones. You can take a 14 days supply of medicinal products containing doping substances with you, upon arrival to Sweden. Information on what substances are classified as doping substances can be found in the regulation (in Swedish):
If you need to take more medicine with you
If you are a resident of another country, planning to stay in Sweden for a longer period of time and need to take more medicine with you than what is allowed, you may apply for an exemption. In order for us, to process such an application we need a copy of a medical doctor´s certificate or a medical doctor´s prescription.
The Swedish Medical Products Agency can not grant an exemption for travelling with a narcotic medicinal product from a land within the Schengen area.
Form for application
Travelling from Sweden with medicines
Regulations regarding import when travelling with medicines differ between countries. Import of narcotic medicines is regulated more strictly in most countries. You can contact the embassy of the country you are planning to visit for more information.
Schengen certificate
If you are travelling from Sweden to a country within the Schengen area and need to bring narcotic medicinal products with you, you need to apply for a Schengen certificate.