Your prescription, wherever you live
A prescription from a BIG-registered Dutch dermatologist is recognised by law across the EU. Outside the EU there is no automatic recognition, but most pharmacies can still dispense it, especially where you pay directly. And whatever happens at the pharmacy, your diagnosis and treatment plan are yours to use.
Within the EU
Under European rules, a prescription issued in one EU country is recognised in every other EU country. Take it to any pharmacy in the EU.
The pharmacist applies the rules of the country where you collect your medicine, so local limits on quantity or dosage may apply.
Outside the EU
There is no automatic recognition outside the EU, and each country sets its own rules. In practice many pharmacies dispense on a foreign prescription, particularly where you pay for your medication directly and no insurer has to approve it first.
Two things work in your favour. Your prescription names the active substance rather than a brand, so any pharmacist can identify the right product. And it names the dermatologist who issued it, whose registration you and your pharmacist can verify in the Dutch government BIG register.
What you always get
Your consultation gives you a diagnosis and a written treatment plan from a BIG-registered dermatologist. That is yours, wherever you live and whatever your pharmacy decides.
If a pharmacy will not dispense, take the plan to a doctor where you live. A written plan from a registered specialist is exactly what a local prescriber needs.
Good to know
The medicine may have a different brand name in your country. Your prescription lists the active substance so the pharmacist can identify the right product.
Some medicines are not authorised or available everywhere. If yours is not, ask the pharmacist about an equivalent.
Received a digital prescription? Bring a printed copy. Cross-border e-prescriptions are not yet accepted everywhere.
If your pharmacy has questions
Ask them to contact us. We can confirm the prescription and the registration of the dermatologist who issued it, in writing if that helps.