Notes on the
Legal Status of Piracetam in Australia
v1.0 - Mar 2007
March 2007: In March, 2007, Piracetam is legal to possess in Australia, but to purchase inside Australia requires a prescription. It may be legally imported in personal use amounts (defined to be a maximum of a 3-month supply per importation by the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration.
May 1 2007: On May 1, 2007, Piracetam becomes a Schedule 4 drug and requires a prescription to purchase and import, importation of personal use amounts will no longer be allowed without a prescription.
May 1 2007: On May 1, 2007, Piracetam becomes a Schedule 4 drug and requires a prescription to purchase and import, importation of personal use amounts will no longer be allowed without a prescription.
March 2007 Dear xxx xxxx, Thank you for your email about importing medications for your personal use. I am from the Drug Safety and Evaluation Branch of the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA). The Drug Safety and Evaluation Branch is responsible for prescription medicines. In response to your enquiry, 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 that exists under the /Therapeutic Goods Act 1989/ and its associated regulations. 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 an import permit has been obtained. Piracetam does not appear in the /Customs (Prohibited Imports) Regulations 1956/ and so will not require an import permit. 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, an individual may import three months supply per import but no more than fifteen months supply per twelve-month period. *I reiterate that an individual may bring in no more than a three month supply at once.* Please note, that after 1 May 2007, the /Standard for the Uniform Scheduling of Drugs and Poisons/(SUSDP) will place this medication into Schedule 4 (ie prescription medicine). This means that if the goods are sent to you after this date, along with the medicines, documentation (either a copy of the prescription or a letter from an Australian-registered doctor) which demonstrates clearly that the medicines have been prescribed to you must be included in the parcel. This is a legal requirement. 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 link: http://www.tga.gov.au/docs/html/bringmed/intoaust.htm I trust this information is of assistance to you. Regards, Dr Helen Hughes Senior Professional Officer Experimental Drugs Section Therapeutic Goods Administration ph +61 2 6232 8125 fax +61 2 6232 8112