Ugh, talk about trouble finding you when you’re just sitting at home—this time from customs! Last month, I had my family ship some common medications and medical consumables from back home. I expected it to arrive in 10-15 days like usual, but it got stuck at customs for almost a month. Yesterday, I got the notice: it was officially seized. I’m posting this to warn everyone: Spanish customs are incredibly strict right now, especially with medical-related packages. Be extremely careful when you ship!
I’m in Madrid. The Spanish medical supplies I shipped were mainly some blood pressure medication for an elderly family member, some bandages, medical cotton swabs, and a few boxes of Lianhua Qingwen (a traditional Chinese medicine). The value wasn’t high. I used the EMS postal service, and the tracking showed it arrived in Madrid on March 10th. After that, the status was stuck on ‘Under customs inspection,’ which made me nervous. Sure enough, yesterday I received a letter from Correos, the Spanish postal service, requesting a ton of documents for customs clearance. This included proof of identity, proof of purchase, and a detailed declaration of the package contents. The most troublesome requirement was a Spanish Ministry of Health import permit! How is an ordinary person supposed to get one of those…? The whole system is quite complex, much like understanding [Spain’s healthcare spending].
I spoke with the post office, and they confirmed that personal shipments of medicine, especially prescription drugs, are almost always stopped. For example, the blood pressure medication in my package, while a common drug back home, is a controlled prescription medication in Spain. Without a doctor’s prescription and a permit from the Ministry of Health, individuals are absolutely not allowed to import it. As for the traditional Chinese patent medicine, they couldn’t make sense of the ingredients and would likely classify it as an ‘herbal medicine with unknown components,’ which also requires a permit. So now my options are either to provide the documents, have the package returned, or have it destroyed. I’ll most likely have to choose to return it and just lose the shipping fee.
Tips to Avoid This Pitfall
This whole ordeal was a lesson learned the hard way, and I’m summarizing my experience—from customs issues to sourcing things locally like Spanish medical attire—so hopefully you don’t make the same mistake. Customs are now much stricter with packages from non-EU countries, especially for sensitive categories like medicine, food, and cosmetics.
Commonly Seized Items and How to Handle Them
| Item Type | Risk Level | Recommended Action |
|---|
| Prescription Drugs | Extremely High | Almost impossible to ship personally. It’s best to see a doctor and get a prescription in Spain. |
| Traditional Chinese Medicine | High | Complex ingredients, easily classified as unknown drugs. Not recommended for shipping. |
| Health Supplements | Medium | Small quantities for personal use might be okay, but there’s still a risk if the amount or value is too high. |
| Medical Consumables | Medium | Items like face masks, cotton swabs, etc., are usually fine in quantities for personal use, but don’t mix them with medicine. |
| Food | Extremely High | Explicitly prohibited. Will be destroyed 100% of the time. |
Everyone, please be extra, extra careful with international shipments these days! If you can buy it here, try not to ship it from back home. Medicine is the biggest issue—don’t even think about trying your luck. If it gets seized, you won’t get your items, and you’ll waste a lot of time and money in the process. Has anyone else run into a similar situation recently? How did you handle it? Feel free to share and discuss in the comments below.
