Singapore shipping customs

[Pinshot]

Hi all, had a bit of a mix up and now I fee like a plum.

So we packed all out boxes to Singapore via seven seas worldwide and they have now shipped. God knows how long they will take.

So I realised I have packed a bunch of prescription meds in some of the boxes mixed in with our supplements, vitamins and non prescription meds.

How big of an issue do you think this is? I'm guessing they check every box at the port and will want an explanation when I try to collect my stuff?

It's just so hard to remember everything now this has happened! Oh and I don't have the prescriptions to show them either!

How big of an issue is this?

[BBCWatcher]

It depends on the drugs, whether they were properly declared, and whether ICA finds them. If you want to be at least a little more precise about the first two elements we might be able to offer opinions.

[Strong Eagle]

It depends on the drugs, whether they were properly declared, and whether ICA finds them. If you want to be at least a little more precise about the first two elements we might be able to offer opinions.

Since he realized that he packed the meds, it's unlikely that he declared them.

It's also quite unlikely that anything is going to happen. The inbound shipment may or may not be inspected, and if it is inspected it may be rather cursory or it could be extensive... something that is relatively rare, and in my opinion, probably related to the origin of the shipment.

I'd just wait. If the meds were to be discovered in an inspection, I would

a) Explain the the shipper piled everything into one box
b) Have doctor's presriptions for the meds in question

I know a fellow who moved from KL to Singapore with a container that had hundreds of DVD's in it, none declared, an oversight, just like yours. Nothing happened.

[Pinshot]

Thanks a lot for the reply. It's just I know how strict they 'can' be here in Sin. The meds are nothing fancy, Antibiotics, pain meds like co-codomol ok, some breast cancer meds (belonging to mom)and fertility meds. No 'party drugs' as they say. I guess we just gotta wait and see - I suppose worst case I'm looking at a big fine and confiscation...lets hope neither.

[JR8]

TBH I think you're over-worrying. You do have to itemise/list media, every single CD, DVD, etc, but we never give a thought to what meds we relo with into SG. [3* now, just for context].
So there will be various remnants of prescription meds, and we've never had copies of original prescriptions on us, NOR felt any necessity at all to declare any of these products on any customs forms.
I reckon absolute worst case is a tiny chance they happen to find something and ask you to explain it. So you explain, perhaps getting a copy of the original prescription as proof if needs be. That said, I've never heard of anything like even this happening before...

[Strong Eagle]

Thanks a lot for the reply. It's just I know how strict they 'can' be here in Sin. The meds are nothing fancy, Antibiotics, pain meds like co-codomol ok, some breast cancer meds (belonging to mom)and fertility meds. No 'party drugs' as they say. I guess we just gotta wait and see - I suppose worst case I'm looking at a big fine and confiscation...lets hope neither.

The customs folks aren't out to whack people like you... they are actually quite reasonable. They are after entirely different game.

They require that everyone declare because if they do catch a big fish, the law's been broken.

I really wouldn't sweat it.

[x9200]

As the others said, don't worry. It's not about cases like yours. It's about smuggling the real drugs or restricted drugs in large quantity. It's not like in EU where a friend of mine got prosecuted for bringing over from Egypt a single package of Valium. Authorities here are reasonable and don't attempt to punish everyone for the sake of blind, literal law obedience.

[BBCWatcher]

Naive question: Aren't these bottles of prescription medications labeled? For example, approximately, "For Jane Smith, take 2 tablets every 4 hours, Boots Pharmacy, Liverpool...."?

[JR8]

Naive question: Aren't these bottles of prescription medications labeled? For example, approximately, "For Jane Smith, take 2 tablets every 4 hours, Boots Pharmacy, Liverpool...."?

In the UK they are, similar to in SG, with a summary of the dosage (the 'indications').
Other countries you're told by the doctor what you need, then you go and buy it in a pharmacy, and it's not labelled with your details. Certainly where we are now you're just handed the packages and you're left to translate the indications back home. In fact you don't need a formal prescription to buy most things, and you can buy stuff that would be illegal to import into SG [IIRC pseudoephedrine might be one such drug?]. So the situation here is more akin to my experience in say Thailand, Malaysia, Indon etc.
But as long as you have some form of recourse, if it came to it, retrospectively getting proof it was prescribed, or it innocently got packed by mistake... well, it's never been a risk that's concerned me. Packing/moving is stressful enough with sweating the micro-stuff.

[ecureilx]

Actually, the purpose of declaration is two fold: 1) If you fail to declare, you are charged for same, and if you misdeclare, add failure to declare + misdeclaration :p

As said, fret not, unless you are bringing in severely controlled drugs in large volume