Taking Vitamins to Germany--Customs allowed??
 

I got a cheap uncle in Germany who wants Costco vitamins....theres a huge bottle of it at Costco, and I was wondering if I will be able to take these with me in my checked luggage to Germany from the U.S.??

I've a relative who mailed them via postal mail to Germany before from the U.S. and they were supposedly confiscated....so not sure what the terms are.....anyone know?
thanks

i don't think a gift for your uncle would be a prob.....good luck....

ahhh me thinks *GIFT* is the right answer :D Thanks!

take the original package, put it/them in a checked bag....

Moving this over to the Germany Forum.
Obscure2k
TravelBuzz Moderator

You have two issues:

1. Are you bringing in more that would be necessary for your own personal use?

2. How can you convince the Customs official that the vitamins are a gift, and not something you are bringing in to sell?

I just went through this when picking up a package at the customs office sent by a friend who is temporarily (for 9 months) moving to Germany. The package was addressed to me. Vitamins and some other medication (band aids with antiseptics, aloe vera products) were confiscated.

What I was told by the customs agents is the following:

1. Vitamins: everything above 250% Recommended Daily Average is not allowed to be brought into the EU by mail. You can bring it with you in small quantities in your hand luggage if it is for your personal use, not as a gift. So don't mail vitamin pills with 1000mg Vitamin C.

2. Medication that is not for your personal use cannot be imported per EU regulations. Bringing small quantities for your own personal use in your luggage is ok, although you might have to show a doctor's prescription. Mailing these things to somebody else means that it is not for you, i.e., forbidden (lesson: sending it to "Your Name c/o Other Name" might work, but I'd still not recommend it).

3. Aloe Vera products are severely restricted, only above grounds parts are allowed. Because Aloe is a protected plant and you will have to be able to prove that your product was produced only using commercially grown Aloe; see EU regulation 709/2010. By the way, the same also applies to the US (http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/travel/cl..._prod_inus.xml) as this regulation is based on international agreements, namely the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

Important in all of this is that the regulations for things considered for your own personal use are far less strict than for things that you might give to others (irrespective of whether you want to sell these things or you just want to give them away as presents, the reason here is consumer protection, i.e., the protection of others).

Aspirin is evidently extremely expensive in Germany & when I visited, my friend asked me to bring some. I bought 3 Bayer 500-count bottles for $14 each at CostCo & there was no problem whatsoever.

Don't know if that's under the same customs category as vitamins, though. I brought vitamins back from Germany: the fizzly ones that you drop in a glass of water like alka seltzer. They're amazing! I love drinking them!

You are allowed to import 3 months worth of medicine/supplement for your personal use only. High dose vitamins and certain nutritional supplements are considered medicine for customs purposes.

More here: http://www.zoll.de/DE/Privatpersonen...ttel_node.html

(in German, but google translate is your friend)

Forget mailing anything to Germany, DVD/CDs and Medicines are are always pulled out in the screening process (they have started using xray scanners automated like the baggage screening) and you get a letter.

Oh, the irony of that statement - and I mean absolutely no disrespect to Russian Texan.

Acetylsalicylic acid - or "Aspirin", to use its registered brand name - was first synthesised and patented in Germany by Bayer AG in 1987.

1897... as part of the WW I loss Bayer had to rescind the trademark in 1919 in the victors countries :eek::confused::rolleyes:

That does not detract from the fact that Bayer AG - which still manufactures pharmaceutical drugs in Germany - was the company that first marketed that ubiquitous and marvellous medication. I, for one, would not be alive today if I did not take Aspirin regularly.

Nice try, Oliver 2002 but no cigar!

Best wishes.

I don't think it's just Germany, and I don't think it's just Aspirin. And I think part of the issue may be packaging. Here in the UK (and I believe Germany may be the same) over-the-counter pain killers may only be sold in small quantities, and only in blister packs. I always stock up on these things in North America because those large bottles are so much cheaper than our tiny blister packs.

Several comments:

1. (Bayer) Aspirin is indeed quite expensive here in Germany. However, there are many generic preparations available under the name "...", which is the abbreviation for Acetylsalicylsäure, the German name for acetylsalicylic acid - which is the generic name for Aspirin. These are much cheaper than (Bayer) Aspirin. On the other hand...it is still *much* cheaper in the US. I recently bought a bottle of generic aspirin in the US: $1.30 for 200 tablets.

2. Most vitamins are *much* cheaper in the US. I often bring back Vitamin C tablets: I usually can find 500 500mg tablets in the US for approx. $10. If i go to a German pharmacy, I may pay $5 for 20 100mg tablets. You do the math...

3. I have always carried the vitamins in my checked baggage and never been stopped. However, I now know that I might have a problem when I bring in 1000 or 1500 tablets. Thanks very much to oliver2002 for finding the URL that documents this. The policy seems pretty clear.

4. I agree with several other posters: never try to mail the stuff!

[QUOTE=RussianTexan;17131670]Aspirin is evidently extremely expensive in Germany & when I visited, my friend asked me to bring some. I bought 3 Bayer 500-count bottles for $14 each at CostCo & there was no problem whatsoever.

/QUOTE]
I did the the same thing.My friend had to explain to me why I had to bring Bayer aspirin back to the country that developed it :p
I told him we could make a lot of money by standing on any street corner, in a long raincoat ,hat and sunglasses, of course, and saying to passer-byes, " hey pssst, want some Bayer aspirin? 2 for one Euro." :D