Home > Taking food to Spain

Food for personal consumption

1. Foods of animal origin

Starting May 1, 2004, pursuant to European Commission Regulation 745/2004 of April 16, 2004, travellers from third countries (including the United States and Canada) are prohibited from taking foodstuffs of animal origin to Spain for their personal consumption as part of their luggage. This prohibition affects all meats, meat products, milk, and dairy products. Exceptions are those specified in Annex I (powdered infant milk, infant food, and food required for medical reasons, packaged in commercial containers and not needing refrigeration before opening) and those specified in Art. 1, paragraphs 2 and 3.

2. Fruit, vegetables and plants

If traveler is planning to take fruits, vegetables or plants as part of their personal luggage, please visit the information provided by the Plant Health Service of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, " Información para viajeros para introducción de vegetales y productos vegetales¨ (this information is only available in Spanish)

Traveling to the Peninsula and Baleares Islands.

The entrance of fruits, vegetables and plants included in Annex III of Royal Decree 58/2005 is forbidden. The rest of fruits, vegetables and plants must be declare at the Spanish customs such as:

Live Plants

• Including bonsais, cuttings, gratts, etc., for both personal and commercial use independently the amount that is brought to Spain. At any case, this material will be accompanied by an Official Phitosanitary certificate issued by an Official authority of the country of origin and free of soil.
• Cut flowers and bouquets for ornamentation.
• If flowers or foliage for ornamentation do not exceed the amount of 6 units, it is not necessary to declare them at the Spanish custom.

Fresh fruits

• It will not be necessary to declare fresh fruits at customs when the amount of fruits do not exceed 1kg per person.
• Small size fruits (cherries, strawberries, berries, grapes for consumption): 1kg per person
• Mediun size fruits (apricots, plums, peaches, nectarines, citrics, pears, apples) 3 units per person
• Tropical fruits (mangos) 2 units per person

Fesh Vegetables

• It will not be necessary to declare them if do not exceed 1kg per person. There is an exception for seed potatoes and potatoes for consumption which always have to be declared at customs

3. Other foodstuffs

In accordance with EC Regulation 918/83, foodstuffs other than animal products may be introduced in Spain, limited to 1 kg. (2.2 lb) per person, as long as they are part of the personal luggage of travelers coming from a third country, provided such imports are of a non-commercial nature.

For the purposes of the above paragraph, and in accordance to EC Regulation 918/83:

Personal luggage means the whole of the luggage which a traveler is in a position to submit to the customs authorities on his arrival in Spain, as well as any luggage submitted to this same authority at a later date, provided that evidence can be produced to prove that it was registered, at the time of the traveler's departure, as accompanied luggage with the company which transported it into the community from the third country of departure.

Imports of a non-commercial nature means imports which:

• are of an occasional nature, and
• consist exclusively of goods for the personal use of the travelers or their families, or of goods intended as presents; the nature and quantity of such goods should not be such as might indicate that they are being imported for commercial reasons.

Regarding the importation of tobacco, alcoholic drinks, and other foodstuffs, including those of commercial nature, you will find the maximum quantities allowed in Spain under customs clearance (exempt of import tax) in this table.

Please note that the "non-commercial" nature of the food products will be determined by the customs officer on a case-by-case basis. If you have any questions, you may contact the Customs Office at your port of entry in advance. Follow this link to obtain the phone numbers of the different Customs Offices.

Drugs for personal consumption

Travelers from the USA planning their entry to Spain, with drugs for their own usage, must observe and follow the stipulations in Law 29/2006, of July 26, of Guaranties and Rational Usage of drugs and Sanitary Products.

The requirements for taking any kind of drug to Spain, not considered as psychotropics (substances susceptible of create addition) are:

• Doctor´s prescription, specifying the active ingredient, generic name, dosage and frequency of intakes (Spanish translation has to be attached.)

For medicaments considered as psychotropics , the requirements are:

• Doctor´s report (Spanish translation has to be attached) justifying the prescription, including patient personal information, diagnosis, active ingredient, generic name, dosage and frequency of intakes.

In the case of a chronic illness that needs a large amount and variety of medicaments, and when an extended period of time in Spanish territory is foreseen, travelers can take with them the necessary amount. Before traveling, it has to be in consideration that many medicaments commercialized in the USA are not commercialized in Spain with the same name, for that reason, it is necessary to specify in the prescription and in the Doctor´s report the active ingredient and the generic name, in order to facilitate the obtention of medicaments with the same characteristics in the Spanish pharmacies.

We warn that the Spanish pharmacies do not sell certain medicaments, which are only for use in hospitals, sanitary centers or clinics, making difficult the access to them for the general public. For that reason, we recommend to contact info@mapausa.org before traveling, if the period of stay in Spain is prolonged and the amount of medicament to take with you is high.

Law 29/2006, of July 26, of Guaranties and Rational Usage of Medicaments and Sanitary Products

Next and in order to facilitate to the general public the access to the mentioned Law 29/2006, we extract some of its articles as follows:

Title I

Article 4. Ensuring public health advocacy

• It prohibits the development, manufacture, import, export, distribution, marketing, prescription and dispensing of products, pharmaceutical preparations, substances or combinations thereof, presented as drugs without the legal permission and recognition.
• Title II, Chapter I. Drugs recognized by the Law and their classification.

Article 7. Drugs legally recognized

• Only will be recognized as the following ones:
• Drugs for human and animal consumption industrially elaborated or in which elaboration takes part in an industrial process.
• Master formulas (It is the medicine for a given patient, prepared by the pharmacist or under his/her direction, specifically according to a prescriptionoptional detailed the medicinal substances that includes, according to scientific standards, quantity and composition prescribed by a facultative, dispensed in a pharmacy or pharmaceutical service and timely information to the user.)
• The officinal preparations (this medicine prepared according to the principles of good design and quality control established for that purpose and guaranteed by a pharmacist or under his direction, dispensed in pharmacy or pharmaceutical service, listed and described by the National Formulary, for delivery directly to the patients to those served by the pharmacy or pharmaceutical service.
• Special drugs under this Act.
• Will the legal treatment of drugs for the purpose of implementing this Act and its general control substances or combinations of substances authorized for use in clinical trials or research in animals.

Chapter V. Special drugs guaranties.

Article 45. Vaccines and biological medicines

Article 46. Derivatives of blood, plasma and other substances of human origin (fluids, glands, excretions, secretions, tissues and any other substances) and their corresponding derivatives, when used for therapeutic purposes, are considered drugs and are subject to the rules under this Act with the specific regulations are established according to their nature and characteristics.

Article 47. Advanced therapy medicinal products .

• It is considered <<genetic therapy drugs>>, the product obtained through a conjunction of manufacture processes destined to transfer, “in vivo” (within the living) or “ex vivo” (without the living) a prophylactic gen, therapeutic or of diagnosis, such as a nucleic acid fragment, to humans/animals cells and its posterior expression “in vivo”.
• It is considered <<somatic cellular therapy drugs>>, the use in humans of living somatic cells, as much autologi from the same patient as from another human being, or xerogenic, from animals which biological characteristics have been substantially altered as the result of their manipulation to obtain a therapeutic effect, diagnosis or preventive through metabolic, pharmacologic and immunologic meanings.

Article 48. Radiopharmaceutical product. Any product that, when is prepared for its therapeutical or diagnosis usage, contains one or more radionuclide (radioactive isotopes.)

Article 49. Drugs with psychoactive substances as an addictive potential.

• Psychoactive substances included on the attached list to the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs 1961 and to the Convention on Psychotropic Substances 1971, as much as the drugs containing them, being such substances or restrictions derived from the acquired obligations before the United Nations Organization in its fight against the illicit traffic of psychotropic and narcotic substances.

Article 50. Homeopathic drugs

• A homeopathic drug, for human or veterinary use, is the obtained from substances named homeopathic stocks according to a procedure of homeopathic manufacturing described in the European Pharmacopoeia, in the Spanish Royal Pharmacopoeia or in any pharmacopoeia officially utilized in any European Union countries. A homeopathic drug could contain many active principles.

Article 51. Drugs from medicinal plants.

• Plants and their mixtures, as well as the preparations obtained from plants in the form of extracts, lyophilized, distilled, tinctured, boiled or any other galenic preparation presented with therapeutic, diagnosis or preventive usage will follow the regime of the master formulas, officinal preparation or industrial medicines, according to procedures and with the established regulatory specifications.

Article 52. Medical gases.

• Medical gases are, liquid oxygen, liquid nitrogen and liquid protoxide nitrogen, as well as any other that, with similar utilization and characteristics, can be manufactured in the future.

Article 72. Imports and Article 73. Exports

Only laboratories and pharmaceutical wholesellers can import or export medicine, as long as they meet the established legal requirements.

Article 74. Medicines for travelers’ use.

• Travelers with medicines, destined for their own consumption, are excluded from the established requirements in the previous articles, without prejudice of the control measures when the drugs can represent a deviation for their quantity or destination in prevention of an illicit usage.
• In accordance with the provisions of applicable law on health protection and fight against the sport doping, sportsmen, sport teams and foreign managers that represent them are obliged, when entry to Spain in order to participate in any sport activity, to send the anti-doping forms to the Spanish Anti-doping Agency, in which have to be identified the carried products, number of units and responsible doctor of the prescription, or in the case of animals that are part of the sport events, the veterinary.

 

LIST OF PHARMACEUTICAL PRODUCTS

NARCOTICS, PSYCHOTROPIC DRUGS AND ANY OTHER OF SIMILAR OFFECTS

Narcotics

List I. 1961 Convention on Narcotics.

- Morphine hydrochloride: morphine (vials 10 and 20 mg); lyophilized morphine, bulb 2 mg.

- Meperidine hydrochloride: meperidine (vials 50 and 100 mg).

- Fentanyl citrate (vials of 0,05 mg).

- Diphenoxylate chlorhidrate: (reasec, tableta).

- Opium of Morphine Dried extracted at 20 % (paregoric elixir. Container x 15 mL).

List II. 1961 Convention on Narcotics.

- Codeine phosphate (Cosedal, tablet 30 mg, Cosedal drops container x 15 mL, Amicodex, tablet).

- Basic Codeine

- Dextropropoxyphene hydrochloride (Dextropropoxyphene, tablet 65 mg, Amicodex, tablet).

Psycothropics

List I. 1971 Agreement on psychotropic substances.

- Substances with recognized therapeutic value. Its movement or trafficking is prohibited

List II. 1971 Agreement on phychotropic substances.

- Metylphenidate hydrochloride (tablet 10 mg).

List III. 1971 Agreement on psychotropic substances.

- Flunitrazepam (vial 2 mg).

List IV. 1971 Agreement on psychotropic substances.

- Barbital: Circulates as laboratory reactive (basic barbital, barbital sodium).

- Clobazam (Clobazam/noiafren, tablet 20 mg).

- Clonazepam (tablet 1 mg [Antilepsín]).

- Clorodiazepóxido (tablet 10 mg).

- Diazepam (vial 10 mg, tablet 5 mg).

- Phenobarbital (Phenobarbital, elixir in container x 60 mL, Phenobarbital sodium, vial, 0,2 g/mL, Phenobarbital 15 mg, tablet, Phenobarbital 100 mg, tablet, alepsal tablet).

- Medazepam (tablet 10 mg, Rudotel).

- Meprobamato (tablet 400 mg).

- Midazolam (vial 10 mg).

- Nitrazepam (tablet 5 mg ).

Other substances with similar effects

- Chloral Hydrate (syrup container 60 mL).

- Trihexifenidile