Is Vitamin B12 Legal? Global Status Guide
Category: Performance · Tracked in 159 countries
133
Legal12
Grey Area1
Prescription13
BannedCan You Buy Vitamin B12?
Whether you can buy Vitamin B12 depends on your country. It is legal to purchase in 133 countries, including Grenada, Anguilla, Algeria, Angola, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, and 125 more. A prescription is required in 1 countries, including Aruba. It falls into a legal grey area in 12 countries (Zimbabwe, Andorra, Sint Eustatius, Curacao, Bahamas, Barbados, St Kitts and Nevis, Montserrat, and 4 more), where it may be available for research but not for human use. It is banned in 13 countries: Botswana, Senegal, Cameroon, Paraguay, Costa Rica, Bolivia, Venezuela, Uruguay, and 5 more.
Traveling with Vitamin B12
Traveling internationally with Vitamin B12 requires understanding local laws at your destination. Do not carry Vitamin B12 into countries where it is banned (Botswana, Senegal, Cameroon, Paraguay, Costa Rica, Bolivia, Venezuela, Uruguay, and 5 more) — you could face serious legal consequences. In countries requiring a prescription (Aruba), carry a valid prescription or doctor's letter. Always declare pharmaceutical products at customs and check the latest regulations before traveling.
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Vitamin B12 Legal Status by Country (159)
| Country | Status | Rx Required | Schedule | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Algeria | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Angola | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Anguilla | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Argentina | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Australia | Legal | No | Supplement | Oral: OTC listed medicine (AUST L). Injectable (hydroxocobalamin): Registered on ARTG, appears unscheduled — available without prescription from pharmacies. | Unsourced |
| Austria | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Bahrain | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Bangladesh | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Belgium | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Brazil | Legal | No | Supplement | Oral: ANVISA-permitted vitamin supplement. Injectable: Requires drug registration. | Unsourced |
| British Virgin Islands | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Brunei | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Bulgaria | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Cambodia | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Canada | Legal | No | Supplement | Oral: NHP with NPN (OTC). Injectable: Prescription drug (DIN). Covered by all provincial formularies. | Unsourced |
| Cape Verde | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Cayman Islands | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Chile | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| China | Legal | No | Supplement | Oral: Health food via SAMR filing (OTC). Injectable: NMPA-registered pharmaceutical. | Unsourced |
| Colombia | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Croatia | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Cuba | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Cyprus | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Czech Republic | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Democratic Republic of Congo | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Denmark | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Dominica | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Dominican Republic | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Ecuador | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Egypt | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| El Salvador | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Estonia | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Ethiopia | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Fiji | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Finland | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| France | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| French Guiana | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Georgia | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Germany | Legal | No | Supplement | Oral: Food supplement under EU Directive 2002/46/EC. Injectable: Prescription medicinal product (verschreibungspflichtig). | Unsourced |
| Ghana | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Greece | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Grenada | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Guatemala | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Honduras | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Hong Kong | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Hungary | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Iceland | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| India | Legal | No | Supplement | Oral: FSSAI health supplement. Methylcobalamin re-permitted since 2021. Injectable: Schedule H prescription drug. | Unsourced |
| Indonesia | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Iran | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Iraq | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Ireland | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Israel | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Italy | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Ivory Coast | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Jamaica | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Japan | Legal | No | Supplement | Oral: FNFC (Food with Nutrient Function Claims), freely available. Injectable (mecobalamin): Approved pharmaceutical, prescription required. | Unsourced |
| Jordan | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Kenya | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Kuwait | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Laos | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Latvia | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Lebanon | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Libya | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Liechtenstein | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Lithuania | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Luxembourg | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Madagascar | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Malawi | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Malaysia | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Maldives | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Malta | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Mauritius | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Mexico | Legal | No | Supplement | Oral supplement freely available. Injectable available at pharmacies. | Unsourced |
| Monaco | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Montenegro | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Morocco | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Mozambique | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Myanmar | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Namibia | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Nepal | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Netherlands | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| New Zealand | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Nicaragua | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Nigeria | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| North Macedonia | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Norway | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Oman | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Pakistan | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Panama | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Papua New Guinea | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Peru | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Philippines | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Poland | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Portugal | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Puerto Rico | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Qatar | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Romania | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Russia | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Rwanda | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Saint Barthelemy | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Saint Martin (French) | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Samoa | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Saudi Arabia | Legal | No | Supplement | Permitted as a supplement ingredient. Not subject to the controls that apply to unregistered injectable peptides. | Unsourced |
| Serbia | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Seychelles | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Singapore | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Sint Maarten | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Slovakia | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Slovenia | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| South Africa | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| South Korea | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Spain | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Sri Lanka | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| St Lucia | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| St Vincent and the Grenadines | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Suriname | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Sweden | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Switzerland | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Taiwan | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Tanzania | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Thailand | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Tonga | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Tunisia | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Turkey | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Uganda | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Ukraine | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| United Arab Emirates | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| United Kingdom | Legal | No | Supplement | Oral: OTC food supplement or GSL medicine. Injectable (hydroxocobalamin): Prescription Only Medicine (POM). Remote prescribing for injectable B12 banned as of June 2025. | Unsourced |
| United States | Legal | No | Supplement | Oral/sublingual: GRAS dietary supplement (21 CFR 184.1945). Injectable: FDA-approved prescription drug (cyanocobalamin injection). Nasal spray (Nascobal) also Rx. | Official |
| US Virgin Islands | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Vanuatu | Legal | No | Supplement | — | Unsourced |
| Andorra | Grey Area | No | Reconeixement Paisos Referents | Andorra is not in the EU, so EMA authorisation does not apply of its own force - but the position tracks its neighbours by statute, not merely in practice. Llei general de sanitat (20 March 1989) art. 40(1) empowers the Government to recognise directly the marketing authorisations issued by the competent authorities of the reference countries. The Reglament de Medicaments of 4 October 1977 goes further: art. 1 provides that in the absence of Andorran tables, FRENCH regulation applies, and that anything on the narcotics list of a neighbouring country is automatically in Table B; art. 10 provides that human medicines follow the MORE LIBERAL of the two neighbouring regimes for toxic and dangerous substances, and the MORE RESTRICTIVE for narcotics. In practice a peptide unauthorised in both France and Spain is unauthorised in Andorra. Custody and dispensing are reserved to authorised pharmacies (art. 46), and importers require prior authorisation (art. 43). Penalties under the health law are administrative: fines to EUR 100,000 for very serious infringements, with criminal referral preserved separately. | Official |
| Antigua and Barbuda | Grey Area | No | Reform Pending | Currently governed by the Pharmacy Act 1995 (as amended 2019) and the Antibiotics and Therapeutic Substances Act, Cap. 17, neither of which operates a general product-approval regime reaching peptides. A draft Pharmacy Bill 2026, published November 2025, would change this substantially: it defines unlicensed or unregistered medical products, requires imported products to be registered and approved in the country of origin and by a WHO Listed Authority or recommended by the Caribbean Regulatory System, and introduces marketing authorisation based on quality, safety and efficacy. Clause 33 targets courier and mail-order supply directly, requiring an import licence from the Council plus the original prescription from a locally registered practitioner and proof the drug is unavailable locally, with a stated maximum of three months for personal use. Clause 36 requires any injectable supplement to be prescribed. Proposed penalties are severe: EC$40,000 and 12 months generally, and a minimum EC$500,000 fine and up to 5 years for knowingly supplying substandard or falsified drugs. THIS IS A DRAFT BILL, NOT LAW - re-check enactment before relying on it. | Official |
| Bahamas | Grey Area | No | No Product Registration Regime | The Bahamas has NO drug marketing-authorisation system. The Pharmacy Act, Ch. 227 (Act No. 8 of 2009) registers people and premises and licenses manufacturers and wholesalers, but does not require a product to be approved before sale - claims that the Bahamas operates drug registration are incorrect. What binds instead: s.27 requires every drug manufactured, offered for sale, imported or exported to meet a pharmacopoeial standard (BP, USP, Ph. Eur., Int. Ph. or another approved by the Minister), with a fine up to BSD 20,000 - a research-grade peptide with no pharmacopoeial monograph fails that test. Section 28 refers import and export control to the Customs Management Act rather than medicines law. Section 33 requires factory and warehouse registration for manufacture or import for storage and wholesale distribution, fine up to BSD 15,000. Note also s.30(5): a prescription expressly does NOT include one transmitted electronically via the internet, which bears directly on online-prescriber models. No traveller allowance was located in the Pharmacy Act. | Official |
| Barbados | Grey Area | No | Not Within Scheduled Substances | No product marketing-authorisation regime was located. The Barbados National Drug Formulary is a public-benefit reimbursement list, not a market authorisation - the two should not be conflated. The operative import control is the Therapeutic Substances Act, Cap. 330 (1949-40, in force 1 December 1950), s.6 of which makes it unlawful to import a drug or therapeutic substance to which the Act applies without a licence from the Licensing Authority (the Chief Medical Officer), manufacture by an approved pharmaceutical firm, and compliance with prescribed standards. BUT the Act's Schedule covers only sulphonamides, penicillin, streptomycin, oleandomycin and other antibiotic substances - a therapeutic peptide is NOT within it, so Cap. 330's import licence does not bite. The remaining constraints are the Pharmacy Act Cap. 372 (poisons and dispensing) and customs. The Cap. 330 penalty is BBD 480 or three months and has not been uprated since 1950. | Official |
| Bonaire | Grey Area | No | Wet Geneesmiddelenvoorziening Bes | Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba are Dutch public bodies, but the Dutch Geneesmiddelenwet does NOT extend to them - the applicable statute is the separate Wet op de geneesmiddelenvoorziening BES, cited by article in Staatscourant 2025 nr. 28064. Enforcement sits with the Dutch health inspectorate (IGJ) and the Minister of VWS. An adviescommissie geneesmiddelenvoorziening BES was established on 4 August 2025, but its remit is pharmacy establishment licensing, not product approval. No BES medicines-registration provision was located, so registration status, import rules, traveller allowance and penalties remain unverified for these islands. | Official |
| Curacao | Grey Area | No | Landsverordening Geneesmiddelenvoorziening | Curacao is an autonomous country with its own Landsverordening op de geneesmiddelenvoorziening, descended from Netherlands Antilles law - Dutch and EU medicines law do not apply. The ordinance is confirmed in force and actively administered, with implementing decrees still being consolidated, including a Landsbesluit under article 28(1) whose consolidated text was established on 7 May 2026 (P.B. 2026 no. 155). However the ordinance's own text is not published on the government law portal, so its provisions on registration, import, prescription status and penalties could not be verified. | Official |
| Montserrat | Grey Area | No | Not Within Scheduled Substances | No general medicines-approval law was located. Control rests on an Antibiotics and Therapeutic Substances Act of 1949-1951 vintage (Montserrat Cap. 14.14, Act 9 of 1950; Saint Kitts and Nevis Cap. 9.04) which requires an import licence, approved manufacturer and prescribed standards - but whose Schedule lists only penicillin, streptomycin, aureomycin, chloromycetin, sulphonamides, terramycin, bacitracin and neomycin. PEPTIDES ARE NOT WITHIN THAT SCHEDULE, so the import licence does not apply to them. In Turks and Caicos the position is similar: the Poisons Ordinance Cap. 8.05 requires a practitioner's written prescription for any declared poison, but its Schedule is a 1901-era list and does not include peptides; there is no medicines registration ordinance and no pharmacy ordinance. Penalties where the statutes do apply are negligible - EC$480 or six months in Montserrat, USD 5,000 in Turks and Caicos. The binding constraints for a novel non-scheduled substance in these jurisdictions are prescription-only supply, pharmacy and importer licensing, and customs, not medicines law. | Official |
| Saba | Grey Area | No | Wet Geneesmiddelenvoorziening Bes | Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba are Dutch public bodies, but the Dutch Geneesmiddelenwet does NOT extend to them - the applicable statute is the separate Wet op de geneesmiddelenvoorziening BES, cited by article in Staatscourant 2025 nr. 28064. Enforcement sits with the Dutch health inspectorate (IGJ) and the Minister of VWS. An adviescommissie geneesmiddelenvoorziening BES was established on 4 August 2025, but its remit is pharmacy establishment licensing, not product approval. No BES medicines-registration provision was located, so registration status, import rules, traveller allowance and penalties remain unverified for these islands. | Official |
| Sint Eustatius | Grey Area | No | Wet Geneesmiddelenvoorziening Bes | Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba are Dutch public bodies, but the Dutch Geneesmiddelenwet does NOT extend to them - the applicable statute is the separate Wet op de geneesmiddelenvoorziening BES, cited by article in Staatscourant 2025 nr. 28064. Enforcement sits with the Dutch health inspectorate (IGJ) and the Minister of VWS. An adviescommissie geneesmiddelenvoorziening BES was established on 4 August 2025, but its remit is pharmacy establishment licensing, not product approval. No BES medicines-registration provision was located, so registration status, import rules, traveller allowance and penalties remain unverified for these islands. | Official |
| St Kitts and Nevis | Grey Area | No | Not Within Scheduled Substances | No general medicines-approval law was located. Control rests on an Antibiotics and Therapeutic Substances Act of 1949-1951 vintage (Montserrat Cap. 14.14, Act 9 of 1950; Saint Kitts and Nevis Cap. 9.04) which requires an import licence, approved manufacturer and prescribed standards - but whose Schedule lists only penicillin, streptomycin, aureomycin, chloromycetin, sulphonamides, terramycin, bacitracin and neomycin. PEPTIDES ARE NOT WITHIN THAT SCHEDULE, so the import licence does not apply to them. In Turks and Caicos the position is similar: the Poisons Ordinance Cap. 8.05 requires a practitioner's written prescription for any declared poison, but its Schedule is a 1901-era list and does not include peptides; there is no medicines registration ordinance and no pharmacy ordinance. Penalties where the statutes do apply are negligible - EC$480 or six months in Montserrat, USD 5,000 in Turks and Caicos. The binding constraints for a novel non-scheduled substance in these jurisdictions are prescription-only supply, pharmacy and importer licensing, and customs, not medicines law. | Official |
| Turks and Caicos | Grey Area | No | Not Within Scheduled Substances | No general medicines-approval law was located. Control rests on an Antibiotics and Therapeutic Substances Act of 1949-1951 vintage (Montserrat Cap. 14.14, Act 9 of 1950; Saint Kitts and Nevis Cap. 9.04) which requires an import licence, approved manufacturer and prescribed standards - but whose Schedule lists only penicillin, streptomycin, aureomycin, chloromycetin, sulphonamides, terramycin, bacitracin and neomycin. PEPTIDES ARE NOT WITHIN THAT SCHEDULE, so the import licence does not apply to them. In Turks and Caicos the position is similar: the Poisons Ordinance Cap. 8.05 requires a practitioner's written prescription for any declared poison, but its Schedule is a 1901-era list and does not include peptides; there is no medicines registration ordinance and no pharmacy ordinance. Penalties where the statutes do apply are negligible - EC$480 or six months in Montserrat, USD 5,000 in Turks and Caicos. The binding constraints for a novel non-scheduled substance in these jurisdictions are prescription-only supply, pharmacy and importer licensing, and customs, not medicines law. | Official |
| Zimbabwe | Grey Area | No | Unregistered Medicine | Regulated by MCAZ under the Medicines and Allied Substances Control Act [Chapter 15:03]. Selling an unregistered "specified medicine" is an offence under s.29(1), penalty under s.29(1a): a fine not exceeding level twelve or imprisonment not exceeding 2 years, or both. The registration duty attaches only once the Minister has declared a medicine or class to be "specified" by statutory instrument under s.28. The Minister may separately prohibit or control manufacture, possession, sale or use of any medicine under s.38(1), same penalty. Notably, personal importation sits OUTSIDE the permit regime: SI 57 of 2008 s.3(d) disapplies the Import and Export of Medicines Regulations entirely to medicines imported by an individual for personal use. Access to unregistered medicines for a named person runs through the s.75 exemption power. | Official |
| Aruba | Prescription | No | Landsverordening Geneesmiddelenvoorziening | Regulated by the Inspectie Volksgezondheid Aruba (IVA) under the Landsverordening op de Geneesmiddelenvoorziening. Aruba is an autonomous country - Dutch and EU medicines law do NOT apply. Commercial importers and pharmacies must submit a sample to IVA for evaluation and classification before a product is placed on the market, and a GMP certificate is required where the product originates outside Europe, the USA or Canada. Personal importation is expressly quantified under IVA policy: prescription medicines up to 3 months' supply, supplements up to 3 months, non-prescription medicines up to 6 months, requiring customs documentation, ID, a photo of the package, and for prescription products a signed prescription from an authorised foreign doctor dated no more than 7 days before return. Critically for peptides: INJECTABLE AND INFUSION MEDICINES REQUIRE AN AUTHORISATION LETTER FROM AN ARUBA-BASED DOCTOR plus patient medical history. Courier companies must supply documentation to IVA. | Official |
| Belize | Banned | No | Unregistered No Product Licence | Not registered. Food and Drugs Act, Cap. 291, and the Food and Drugs (Registration, Licensing and Inspection) Regulations, S.I. 54 of 2017 (in force 29 July 2017; amended by S.I. 41 of 2021 and S.I. 136 of 2025). Regulation 3(1): a person shall not commercialise any drug unless they have obtained registration of, and received a product licence for, that drug from the competent authority - the Director of Health Services. Penalty under reg. 3(3): a fine up to BZD 10,000 on summary conviction. Registration requires a GMP certificate, a WHO-model Certificate of Pharmaceutical Product or Certificate of Free Sale, a certificate of analysis and a full technical dossier. The only non-registered import route is the orphan-drug pathway in reg. 5, which requires import authorisation and applies to drugs for rare diseases - a research peptide would not qualify. No personal or traveller allowance was located. | Official |
| Bolivia | Banned | No | Sin Registro Sanitario | No registro sanitario. Ley 1737 del Medicamento (17 December 1996) art. 5 subjects the elaboration, manufacture, distribution, import, export, sale and commercialisation of medicines to mandatory sanitary registration, restricts importation to persons with registered legal representation, and requires a certificate of registration for customs clearance. Art. 59 lists production, importation and commercialisation of medicines without registro sanitario as punishable infractions, and art. 61 provides for administrative sanctions plus criminal and civil liability under the relevant codes. The law contains no personal-use exception; any such exception would sit in the reglamento (D.S. 25235), which was not retrievable. AGEMED has issued NO alert naming research peptides - all 207 of its 2026 alerts were checked. Its 2026 peptide-adjacent activity concerns contraband tirzepatide and cosmetic products only. Tirzepatide IS legally registered in Bolivia, marketed by IMFAR S.R.L. | Official |
| Botswana | Banned | No | Unregistered Regulated Product | Regulated by BoMRA. A new Medicines and Related Substances Act 2025 (No. 29 of 2025) was assented on 24 December 2025 but COMMENCES ON NOTICE, and no commencement order was located - until it commences the 2013 Act continues to operate, so verify which regime applies before relying on this. Under the 2025 Act, s.35(1) prohibits possessing or controlling any regulated product for the purposes of importing, manufacturing, distributing, selling, advertising, STORING or dispensing unless registered - a possession-for-purpose offence, broader than a pure sale prohibition. Penalty under s.35(11): a fine up to P10,000,000 or imprisonment up to 10 YEARS, or both. Personal use is addressed: s.35(5)(a) allows exemption for a product prescribed outside Botswana for a patient's personal use, and s.64 permits a traveller to bring in quantities required for their own or accompanying family members' treatment, excluding prohibited products, narcotics, psychotropics and precursors. | Official |
| Cameroon | Banned | No | Sans Amm | No AMM. Loi n. 90/035 du 10 aout 1990 art. 64 prohibits supplying any pharmaceutical speciality, free or for payment, without the prior visa of the public health authority; Decret n. 98-405/PM du 22 octobre 1998 art. 3 subjects market placement to an AMM issued after homologation. Regulator is the DPML, a directorate of the Ministry of Public Health rather than an independent agency. The only route for non-homologated medicines is art. 34 of the 1998 decree, which permits import and use for therapeutic trial purposes by approved experts - there is no general named-patient or personal-import provision on the face of the instruments. Penalty exposure turns sharply on classification: breach of the visa requirement attracts only a fine (art. 66 applying art. 20, 50,000-500,000 FCFA), but any breach of the rules on importation, sale or use of substances veneneuses attracts art. 68 - a fine of 1,000,000-5,000,000 FCFA AND imprisonment of 1 to 10 years. Art. 69 extends the same penalties to possession without legitimate reason. | Official |
| Costa Rica | Banned | No | Sin Registro Sanitario | No registro sanitario. The Ministerio de Salud states that Ley General de Salud 5395 prohibits the importation, manufacture, commercialisation and use of products without sanitary registration, and that those involved face closure of their establishment and both administrative AND criminal sanctions. Advertencia Sanitaria 11-2026 (22 July 2026) names retatrutide, tesamorelin, BPC-157, TB-500 and GHK-Cu as promoted and sold through unauthorised channels without sanitary authorisation; MK-677 was named separately in Advertencia 14 (22 August 2025). Magistral preparation is not a route: the Ministry states such preparations may only be made by authorised pharmacies for a specific patient against an individual prescription, and may not be manufactured to hold inventory, sold at scale, or promoted publicly as substitutes for industrial medicines. Registered and prescription-only in Costa Rica: Ozempic (semaglutide), Saxenda (liraglutide) and Mounjaro KwikPen (tirzepatide). | Official |
| Guyana | Banned | No | New Drug Licence Required | Controlled through a "new drug" licence rather than a registry. Food and Drugs Act, Chapter 34:03 (Act 12 of 1971), Regulation 78(1): no person shall import, sell or advertise for sale a new drug unless they hold a licence in force issued by the Minister and have paid the licence fee. The definition of "new drug" captures every compound here - it includes any drug containing a substance not imported into Guyana for use as a drug before 1 January 1977, so all of these post-1977 compounds require a Ministerial licence to import or sell. At the border, s.22 allows an inspector to examine customs entries and take samples, and goods are not released until the analyst reports; where sale would contravene the Act the article is not admitted into Guyana. No personal-use exemption appears in the Act or Regulations. Penalties under s.33: on summary conviction GYD 6,500-32,500 and 1-3 months imprisonment for a first offence, rising to GYD 65,000-325,000 and 1-3 years on indictment, with forfeiture of the articles involved. | Official |
| Paraguay | Banned | No | Sin Registro Sanitario | No registro sanitario. Ley 1119/97 art. 6.1 prohibits commercialising or supplying free of charge any unregistered pharmaceutical speciality; art. 4.4 expressly prohibits sale of unauthorised or illegally introduced products. DINAVISA has issued three 2026 alerts naming these compounds: Alerta 05/2026 (3 March, Categoria A - Riesgo Grave) covering TB-500, BPC-157, CJC-1295 DAC, GHK-Cu, kisspeptin, PEG-MGF, SEMAX, tesamorelin and selank; Alerta 08/2026 (18 May) covering CJC-1295 + ipamorelin, TB-500, PT-141 and retatrutide; and Alerta 09/2026 (20 May) covering tirzepatide. NOTE A REGIONAL EXCEPTION: unlike its neighbours, Paraguay's art. 6.2 exempts medicines for personal use carried into the country by the user or an authorised third party, in strictly necessary and reasonable quantities, from prior authorisation - with no statutory condition of foreign approval and no prescription requirement. That exemption is worded for goods carried in person rather than posted, and DINAVISA enforces against unregistered peptide imports regardless. | Official |
| Senegal | Banned | No | Sans Amm | No marketing authorisation. Loi n. 2023-06 du 13 juin 2023 art. 133: no medicine may be supplied in Senegal, free of charge or for payment, without first obtaining an AMM granted by order of the Minister of Health. Import is closed to the general public - art. 136 restricts it to authorised manufacturing and wholesale establishments, and art. 137 requires an ARP authorisation for every import. Personal importation is available only exceptionally: art. 141 permits import authorisations to be granted to private individuals on conditions set by decree, and the implementing decree was not located. Penalties are severe: art. 209 punishes supplying, storing, distributing or selling medicines OUTSIDE health establishments and the official circuit with 5 to 10 YEARS imprisonment and a fine of 500,000 to 10,000,000 FCFA. Illegal practice of pharmacy (art. 203) carries the same custodial range. | Official |
| Trinidad and Tobago | Banned | No | New Drug Approval Required | Food and Drugs Act, Chap. 30:01 and the Food and Drugs Regulations operate a genuine new-drug approval regime. Second Schedule, Division 3, para. 2(1): no person shall import, sell or advertise for sale a new drug unless a new drug submission has been filed, the fee paid, and the Minister has issued a notice of approval that has not been withdrawn. "New drug" captures any substance not imported into Trinidad and Tobago as a drug before the appointed day, which takes in modern peptides. A narrow research carve-out exists at Division 3, para. 10 - import for qualified investigators solely to obtain clinical and scientific data, labelled "To Be Used By Qualified Investigators Only" and requiring written ministerial authority naming them. Section 32(2) additionally bars import unless the article wholly conforms to the law of the country of manufacture and is accompanied by a certificate that its sale there would not violate that law - which defeats import of anything sold abroad as a research chemical not for human consumption. Third Schedule drugs are prescription-only, though a resident of a foreign country visiting Trinidad and Tobago is exempt from the import restriction. Penalties (s.33): summary first offence TTD 1,500 and 3 months; on indictment TTD 15,000 and 3 years. | Official |
| Uruguay | Banned | No | No Registrado | Not registered with the MSP. Decreto 521/984 art. 119 requires every medicine to be registered before use or commercialisation, and art. 82 prohibits the export, import and commercialisation of unregistered human medicines. Personal importation confers no right: art. 73 provides that the introduction or removal of human medicines by private individuals without complying with the requirements triggers MSP intervention over the final destination of the products. Only two routes exist for an unregistered medicine and neither is open to research peptides - art. 71 (samples of new medicines solely for clinical experimentation under MSP control or for the registration process) and art. 143 (urgency or emergency, requiring a competent professional's request and DI.QUI.ME. authorisation, with the professional and supplier jointly and severally liable). Penalties under Decreto-Ley 15.443 art. 19: closure of the establishment, seizure of goods and fines, updated annually for cost of living. | Official |
| Venezuela | Banned | No | No Registrado | Not registered. Ley de Medicamentos (Gaceta Oficial 37.006, 3 August 2000) art. 18 requires registration before elaboration, distribution, POSSESSION (tenencia), sale or dispensing - note that the article reaches mere possession, which is unusual. Art. 58 prohibits the sale of medicines not registered in the country, and art. 67 flatly prohibits importing medicines that do not meet the requirements of the legislation, the only carve-out being for the National Executive during a declared health emergency. The law contains no personal-use or traveller exception. Penalties: art. 75(1) treats manufacture, import, export and distribution of medicines without authorisation as an administrative offence fined 185-370 tax units; criminal liability arises under art. 77 (6 months to 2 years for dispensing non-compliant medicines endangering health) and art. 78 (6 months to 3 years for altering composition, imitating medicines, or stocking, advertising, offering or selling a product known to be altered). | Official |
| Vietnam | Banned | No | Unregistered Unauthorised | Not authorised for circulation. Pharmacy Law 105/2016/QH13 art. 6(5)(e) strictly prohibits trading in drugs or drug substances not yet permitted for circulation; art. 59(1) limits the market to drugs holding a marketing authorisation or imported under art. 60. Unregistered drugs may be import-licensed only in enumerated cases under art. 60(2), of which limb (i) covers non-commercial purposes. Criminal exposure runs through Penal Code art. 194 (counterfeit medicines): 2-7 years base, rising to 12-20 years or life in aggravated cases. IMPORTANT: the death penalty was REMOVED from art. 194 with effect from 1 July 2025 by Law 86/2025/QH15 - older sources stating otherwise are out of date. Note art. 194 targets counterfeit rather than merely unregistered product, though Vietnam's definition of counterfeit captures goods with absent or deficient active ingredient. Semaglutide and tirzepatide are prescription-only by residual rule: anything not on the OTC list in Circular 07/2017/TT-BYT is automatically a prescription drug. | Official |
| Zambia | Banned | No | Unregistered Medicine | Not registered with ZAMRA. Medicines and Allied Substances Act 2013 (Act No. 3 of 2013) s.39(1) prohibits placing a medicine on the market without a marketing authorisation. Dealing in unregistered medicines is a distinct and more serious offence under s.58(2)(a): a fine up to 4,000,000 penalty units or imprisonment up to 7 YEARS, or both, plus forfeiture and licence cancellation. Importing without a permit is a further offence under s.35 (up to 3 years). Personal importation is permitted narrowly: s.39(4)(b) exempts a person importing for their own or a relative's use ONLY where the quantity is based on a prescription. A traveller carve-out exists at s.35(2) but the quantity is set by statutory instrument which was not located. | Official |
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Entries marked Official cite a government regulator, legislation or an official gazette. Some entries currently carry no source at all.
We show these entries rather than hiding them, but they should not be relied on. Nothing on this site is legal advice. Verify against the national regulator before acting, and if you can point us at a better source please submit an update.
Data is researcher-verified but not legal advice. Regulations change frequently. Always verify with local authorities before purchasing, importing, or traveling with peptides. Last verified: 2026-02-28.