Originally Posted by
Swiss Tony
My wife left her cell phone in Singapore. We had it sent back to London and the shipper was intent on charging us for various import duties (that were close to the value of the phone) even though we owned the thing in the first place.
I've got a worse example than that.... I left an old pair of spectacles in the Channel Islands, and got a friend to post them on. Royal Mail decided to charge me £15 in import duty. (I got it back in the end - but it was a struggle. I gather the issue could have been avoided if my friend had stuck a customs label on the jiffy bag)
To get back to the OP, there is no duty payable on personal effects that one has owned for a minimum of six months, but you need to fill in the right paperwork. The shipping company should know what form to use.
Like a previous poster I'm not so sure about the medication. Wouldn't it be easier to obtain it here?