Pharmacy items from UK

[minnie]

About 3 weeks ago I ordered some Piriteze and Mycil athlete's foot cream from a UK online pharmacy. As the stuff hadn't arrived I chased up the pharmacy yesterday. Lo and behold they said that the items were returned to them as prohibited (by whom I don't know - can only assume it's French customs). Anybody had anything like this happen to them? Are we not allowed to order off the shelf pharmacy items from UK?

[andyh4]

Ah, but did they come from the UK or from one of the Channel Islands?

It may seem a silly question but there is method in this silliness.

[woolybanana]

Is it not the case now that medication of any kind may not be bought online on France or is it just what would be considered prescription items?

[cooperlola]

I have recently got the impression that far more of the protectionist policies are being enforced than was once the case.  I get quite a bit of stuff from the US and used to very rarely get charged for TVA and import duty - now it happens 90% of the time (fine, I know it's due so it's not a problem), then my Totesport account got closed a year after France decided nobody could bet on the internet with a company which had no French holdings (EU members or not), now it's pharmacy stuff.  But it could just be my imagination.

EDIT : I do know that certain medicines are banned - I can't buy horse wormers from the UK for instance!

[woolybanana]

Is your worm problem now so bad that you have to use horse wormers?[:D]

[Benjamin]

How many of the boys are in a panic in case the little pills don't turn up?    [6]

[Patf]

I get a prescription product from a NZ company. I used to get it in the UK and there's an equivalent here but it's not so good.

Up to now there has been no problem, but I wouldn't be surprised if  it becomes unavailable, as I've heard too that they're tightening up the import laws.

[AnOther]

Surely prohibiting the importation of non prescription medicines from another EU state is against the most basic of EU tenets, that of free movement of people and goods ?

[Rabbie]

There has also been a clampdown in the UK on imported drugs ordered on the internet.

[AnOther]

For dodgy prescription medicines coming from God knows where quite right too !

[BJSLIV]

Ordering prescription drugs over the Internet is illegal in France.

However an EU court ruling has decreed that the market must be opened up to allow such trade.

The French Government will have to loosen the regs by to allow Internet dispensing. However it seems that they will require the goods to be physically handed over by a registered pharmacist. So you will be able to order by Internet, for delivery to a nominated local pharmacist, who will be allowed  to charge a fee for the work involved........... 

[andyh4]

[quote user="AnOther"]Surely prohibiting the importation of non prescription medicines from another EU state is against the most basic of EU tenets, that of free movement of people and goods ?

[/quote]

 

Common misconception, which I have used to my own advantage to scare difficult authorities and suppliers, but in fact there is no free right of movement for people enshrined in EU law.  The right is the free movement of labour - and thereby a somewhat different slant on things - and hence why France (and other countries) can insist on minimum levels of income before permitting a right of abode.

 

Back to the original point - and free movement of goods, there is a great difficulty with pharmacy items and even supplements in that what is freely available over the counter in one country can (for good or less good reasons) be perscription only in another.  As examples, the UK allows prescription free sale of codeine containing items (but seems to be back peddling by making the amount you can buy at one time smaller and smaller), whereas these opiate drugs are perscription only in many other EU countries.  

In Germany even Glucosamine cannot be imported.