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English
By RightEuropean rights, in situation
ODERSA association · Rights programmeIndependent educational site. Not an official website of the European Union.

Official redress

Real redress, in order

Three steps: the doctor before departure, the counter on the spot, the reimbursement once home.

Law as verified onJuly 29, 2026

File EU 2011/24

General information, not legal advice on your case. Every remedy has a time limit, often set by national rules: act early, and check the limit that applies to your case before you wait.

  1. Your doctor, before departure

    Before leaving

    Ask for a cross-border prescription and check its content: patient, date, prescriber, common name of the medicine, format, quantity, strength and dosage. The official EU page details the list and the case of e-prescriptions.

    Presenting a prescription in another EU country (Your Europe, European Union)

  2. The country's pharmacist, prescription in hand

    On the spot

    If dispensing stalls, ask for the ground: the only restrictions the directive admits are written down, necessary and proportionate to safeguard human health and non-discriminatory, or based on legitimate and justified doubts about the authenticity, content or comprehensibility of the prescription, the ethical refusal remaining reserved for cases where it would have applied to a local prescription. The official text can be shown.

    Directive 2011/24/EU, Article 11 (EUR-Lex)

  3. Your health insurer, for the reimbursement

    Once home

    The recognition of prescriptions does not affect the rules on reimbursement: once home, turn to your health insurer, receipt and prescription in hand, to learn the rules applicable to your case. The official EU portal describes the payment and reimbursement steps for stays in another country.

    Unplanned healthcare: payments and reimbursements (Your Europe, European Union)

Medicine prices, coverage rates and prescription validity periods belong to each country: this site presents only the European baseline common to the twenty-seven.

File EU 2011/24

The items in this file

Every item has its own page. The situation is played here; what you keep, what you send and what you re-read live next door.

Play the situationThe file, decision by decisionThe sheet to printThe reflexes to keep, each with its official textThe written walkthroughThe whole situation item by item, answers includedThe rights, one by oneEvery right taught on this site, with its sourceThe next situationAn emergency, without the card