Guides / Travelling with medicines · Updated 30 September 2026

Travelling between the UK and Poland with personal medicines

What the UK allows when you carry prescription and controlled medicines across the border, what paperwork to bring, and why posting them is not an option.

This guide is also available in Polish.

Why medicines deserve their own plan

Most people crossing between the UK and Poland pack a few boxes of tablets without a second thought. For everyday products that is usually fine, but some prescription medicines are controlled drugs under UK law, and those follow specific rules on quantity, paperwork and how they travel. Getting this wrong can mean medicine being confiscated at the border, which is a real problem if you depend on it. This guide explains the UK customs side of travelling with personal medicines, based on current gov.uk guidance. It is not medical advice: questions about your treatment, doses or substitutes belong with your doctor or pharmacist.

What counts as a controlled drug

The UK groups controlled drugs into schedules. Many common prescription medicines, including some painkillers, sleeping tablets and medicines for anxiety or ADHD, fall into one of them. The Home Office guidance on personal licences explains that its personal import policy covers medicines in schedules 2, 3 and 4 (part I), plus schedule 4 (part II) and schedule 5. If you are not sure whether your medicine is controlled, ask the prescriber or pharmacist who dispensed it before you travel; the packaging alone may not tell you.

Controlled drugs also appear on the HMRC list of banned and restricted goods for travellers. That listing is the reason the personal import rules below matter: outside those rules, controlled drugs can be seized.

Bringing medicines into the UK

The 3-month supply rule

According to gov.uk, you can bring up to 3 months' supply of your medicine with you. If you bring more than that, the excess can be confiscated. For controlled drugs in the schedules listed above, the Home Office adds that the medicine must have been lawfully prescribed and dispensed to you, and must be carried on your person when you enter or leave the UK. In practice that means keeping it with you rather than sending it separately in a van, a removals shipment or a parcel.

The prescriber's letter

Gov.uk says you should carry a letter from the person who prescribed your medicine. It should show:

• your name;
• the dates you are travelling to or from the UK;
• a list of your medicines, including how much you have, the doses and the strength;
• the signature of the prescriber; the Home Office guidance adds their professional registration details.

Keep the letter with the medicine and, where possible, keep the medicine in its original dispensed packaging so the label matches the letter. If your letter is in Polish, having it clearly laid out with drug names, strengths and quantities makes it easier for a UK officer to check.

When you need a personal licence

A personal licence is only for exceptional circumstances, for example when you genuinely need to carry more than 3 months' supply. The Home Office asks travellers to contact it 1 month before the intended date of travel for these requests. Schedule 1 drugs are a separate category: the Home Office states they cannot be imported into the UK without a licence in any circumstances, and such licences are limited to research. A Schengen certificate does not replace UK requirements for schedule 1 drugs.

Taking medicines out of the UK

Leaving the UK, the same personal import policy applies to carrying controlled medicines on your person, so the prescriber's letter and 3-month supply limit are a sensible baseline. Gov.uk also tells travellers to check the rules of the destination country with its embassy, and to carry a prescription or doctor's letter as proof that the medicine is yours. For Poland, that means checking the Polish requirements through official Polish channels before you go rather than assuming the UK rules are mirrored. This guide does not summarise the Polish rules because we have not verified them against an official Polish source.

Sending medicines by post or courier

This is where many people come unstuck. The Home Office guidance states plainly that medicines containing controlled drugs cannot be posted to you from overseas. Instead, they have to be imported by a registered pharmaceutical wholesaler and supplied through a UK pharmacy. A family member in Poland posting a box of your usual controlled medicine is therefore not a legal route into the UK, even with a letter in the parcel.

The same thinking applies when you move house. If you are shipping household goods between the two countries, leave controlled medicines out of the removals load and carry them yourself within the 3-month limit. When you prepare an inventory for a removal, it is worth noting medicines separately so nothing ends up packed by mistake; you can build a clear list of your belongings before packing starts. Personal effects moving with a household are covered in our glossary entry on personal effects.

Protected species in some medicines

HMRC's list of banned and restricted goods also notes that some medicines contain ingredients from endangered species protected under CITES. Certain traditional remedies fall into this group. If a product lists animal or plant ingredients you do not recognise, check before you travel, because CITES-controlled items can need permits regardless of whether they are medicines.

A practical checklist before you travel

• Ask your prescriber or pharmacist whether any of your medicines are controlled drugs.
• Pack no more than 3 months' supply unless you have a personal licence.
• Carry controlled medicines on your person, in original dispensed packaging.
• Get a signed letter from your prescriber with the details gov.uk lists.
• If you need more than 3 months' supply, contact the Home Office about 1 month before travel.
• If you are a UK resident bringing back medicine prescribed abroad, contact the Home Office before travel.
• Do not post controlled medicines, and keep them out of removals and freight shipments.
• Check the destination country's rules with its embassy when leaving the UK.

Where commercial rules start

Everything above concerns personal medicines for your own use. Importing medicines or supplements to sell is a different matter involving product regulation and a formal customs entry, usually a CDS import declaration. If you are unsure whether your situation has moved from personal to commercial, our guide on whether you need a customs broker is a good next step.

Related guides

• CDS declaration status codes explained for importers

• Importing art and antiques into the UK: tariff, VAT and licences

• Inward processing in the UK: duty and VAT relief for processing and repair

Sources

• Taking medicine in and out of the UK (GOV.UK)
• Controlled drugs: personal licences (GOV.UK)
• Banned and restricted goods (GOV.UK)

General information, not legal, tax or customs advice. Rules change; confirm current requirements on gov.uk or with a registered agent before you ship.