Countries and destinations covered

These groupings help you find the right country. Each one sets its own medicine rules.

  • Detailed guides: Japan, China, South Korea, India and Singapore.
  • East Asia: China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea and South Korea. Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao need their own checks.
  • South Asia: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
  • Southeast Asia: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste and Vietnam.
  • Central Asia and neighbouring transcontinental countries: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Check Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia one by one. Middle Eastern countries sit in their own group.

Find the exact regulator for your destination

Approval in mainland China does not settle the rules in Hong Kong, Macao or Taiwan. An Indian clinical trial document is no public marketing authorisation. Japan's personal Import Confirmation system works only in Japan and gives no regional travel permit. Start with the national authority and the ingredient, brand, formulation and quantity. Then decide whether you need local treatment or permission to carry your existing prescription.

Personal import systems vary widely

Japan and Singapore publish traveller guidance with their own quantities and conditions. Read each country guide on its own and do not mix their rules. Check needles and other equipment as well as the medicine. A prescription from your own clinician is useful evidence, but you may still need an import permit. Controlled medicine rules depend on the ingredient. Injection alone does not make a medicine controlled.

Language affects your treatment as well as your travel

Write a medicine list with generic names, exact strengths and your prescribed schedule. Keep the original documents with any translations. If the local brand or device differs, ask for clear written instructions and a demonstration. Do not rely on an automatic translation of a sales page for how to take your medicine. Never convert between oral and injected doses yourself.

Where approval is unconfirmed, check before you buy

For countries without a confirmed product record, local approval is still open. That does not mean the product is banned. A licensed local clinician can assess whether treatment suits you while the regulator confirms the product and import status. Do this before a long stay or an order from abroad. Plan follow-up, storage and what to do if a delivery is late. An unfamiliar marketplace seller is a poor fallback.

Country guides in this region

Sources

Your own medicine leaflet and prescriber come first. A source from another country does not mean the same rule applies in the UK.

  1. MHLW: medicines for personal use in Japan mhlw.go.jp
  2. HSA: travelling to Singapore with medication hsa.gov.sg
  3. NMPA: drugs english.nmpa.gov.cn
  4. CDSCO: approved new drugs cdsco.gov.in

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