Dear xxxx,
In response to your enquiry regarding the importing of medication into Australia for your personal use, I offer you the following information.
Australian residents and visitors to Australia can legally import certain therapeutic goods for personal use under the personal import exemption. This exemption does not allow the personal importation of either substances or drugs prohibited by Customs legislation, or, injectable drugs that contain material of human or animal origin (except insulin), unless permission has been obtained prior to their import.
Please note that it is illegal to supply goods imported under the personal import scheme exemption to persons outside the importer's immediate family. Under the personal import scheme exemption, you may import three months supply per import and, no more than fifteen months supply per twelve-month period.
Phenazepam is not considered to be captured by the Customs (Prohibited Imports) Regulations 1956and so will not require an import permit.
However, the Standard for the Uniform Scheduling of Medicines and Poisons (SUSMP) places Phenazepam into Schedule 4 (ie. Prescription Only Medicine). This means that any prescription product entering Australia for use by a resident or a visitor legally requires a prescription from an Australian doctor to obtain and possess. Therefore you should forward to the supplier a copy of a prescription written by an Australian registered medical practitioner which demonstrates clearly that this medication has been prescribed to you. The copy of the prescription should be included the package, along with the medication, when it is mailed to you. The copy of the Australian prescription acts as documentation for the Australian Customs Service to inspect, without a prescription they may be obliged to seize the goods.
If you require further information on the subject of personal importation, may I direct you to our website. There is a TGA publication on bringing medicines into Australia which can be found at the following links:
http://www.tga.gov.au/consumer/travellers.htm
http://www.tga.gov.au/impexp/personal.htm
I trust this information is of assistance to you.
Kind Regards
Adelina Tan
Senior Pharmacist
Experimental Products Unit
Office of Scientific Evaluation
Therapeutic Goods Administration
ph +61 2 6232 8101
fax +61 2 6232 8112