If you are travelling and your medicine contains a substance referred to in the Royal Decree of 06/09/2017 regulating narcotic and psychotropic substances, you will need an official accompanying document proving that you were prescribed these medicines as part of a medical treatment. To find out which medicines are targeted by this Belgian legislation, you can ask your doctor or pharmacist for advice or consult this list of substances.
Examples of medicinal products containing substances on this list:
- Sleep-inducing medicines and sedatives;
- Strong analgesics (e.g. analgesics containing morphine);
- Medicines for the treatment of ADHD (e.g. medicines containing the active substance methylphenidate);
- Medicines used in substitution therapy (e.g. methadone, buprenorphine).
Travelling within the Schengen area
The Schengen area consists of 27 countries: Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. More information
If you travel to one of these countries and take a medicine containing narcotic or psychotropic substances, you must send this form (in Dutch or in French) at least twenty working days (four weeks) in advance to:
Federal Agency for Medicines and Health Products
DG Inspection - Authorisations Division - Narcotics Team
Avenue Galilée 5/03
1210 Brussels
A few points of attention when completing the Schengen declaration:
- Please fill in all the required details of this declaration correctly, without which it cannot be validated.
- If the destination country is not part of the Schengen area, you may not use this document and there is no point in sending it to the FAMHP.
- Each Schengen declaration is only valid for 1 medicine and for a maximum of 30 days.
- If you are taking more than one medicine containing narcotic or psychotropic substances with you on a trip, you must fill in one form per medicine.
- If your travel lasts longer than 30 days, you can look up the regulations in your destination country on the INCB website or contact the embassy of your travel destination. Belgian legislation allows you to take medicines abroad for a treatment duration of 3 months, but not every country allows you to bring medicines into the country for more than 30 days. If the destination country allows you to bring medicines for more than 30 days, you must fill in several forms for each medicine for a maximum period of 3 months.
- If your travel lasts longer than 30 days and this is the limit of the destination country or your travel takes longer than 3 months, you should contact a local doctor in your destination country. In this way, your medical treatment can be followed up correctly.
- It is forbidden to have narcotic or psychotropic substances sent to you from Belgium.
After validation of the fully and correctly completed form, the document will be sent by post to the person concerned. Take the approved declaration with you when you travel and keep it with your medicines. Show the declaration when asked.
The FAMHP is only competent for validating Schengen declarations of medicines containing narcotic or psychotropic substances for citizens domiciled in Belgium who must take these medicines with them during their journey to a country within the Schengen area. We do not validate documents for other medicines, citizens domiciled abroad or travels to countries outside the Schengen area.
Travellers to Spain must also obtain a "Permiso de Viajeros" according to Spain's national legislation. The application can be submitted through the Spanish embassy in Belgium.
Medicinal cannabis (dry buds) containing tetrahydrocannabinol: dispensing this type of product in Belgium is prohibited by the Royal Decree of 11 June 2015 regulating products containing one or more tetrahydrocannabinols. As a public service, we cannot validate a Schengen declaration for a product whose dispensing is prohibited in Belgium.
If you use medicines as part of a substitution therapy (e.g. methadone, buprenorphine), always check the information of the country you are travelling to on the INCB website or contact the embassy of your travel destination. Such medicines are often subject to stricter rules or special procedures.
Travelling outside the Schengen area
No agreements have been concluded with countries outside the Schengen area on the bringing along of medicines containing narcotic or psychotropic substances. Before departure, consult the INCB website where you can find information on bringing along medicines to your destination according to the regulations.
If you do not find information for your destination country on this website or if you have any further questions, we recommend that you look at the embassy's website or contact the embassy of the country you are travelling to. The embassy of your travel destination can best inform you about bringing along medicines when you travel and whether you need certain forms.
If you do not receive an answer from the embassy and cannot find information on the INCB website, we recommend that you have your attending doctor draw up an English declaration clearly stating which medicines you should take as part of your medical treatment as well as posology.
If your travel exceeds the maximum amount of medicines you are allowed to bring along according to the regulations of your destination, you must contact a local doctor in your destination country. In this way, your medical treatment can be followed up correctly.
If a medical certificate is required to be legalised by public authorities, you can contact the FPS Health, Food Chain Safety and Environment for more information.
Travelling to Belgium
A traveller who needs to bring along narcotic or psychotropic substances into Belgium as part of a medical treatment must be able to justify this by means of a valid medical prescription or a certificate validated by public authorities, such as the Schengen declaration.
The maximum amount of medicines brought along to Belgium may not exceed a treatment duration of 3 months.
If your travel lasts longer than 30 days and this is the limit of the country of origin or your travel takes longer than 3 months, you should contact a doctor in Belgium. In this way, your medical treatment can be followed up correctly.
It is forbidden to have narcotic or psychotropic substances sent to Belgium.
More information
Contact the Narcotics Team via narcotics@fagg-afmps.be