Filling a Czech prescription abroad? 10 EU countries now accept eRecept

Czech patients traveling abroad can now pick up medications prescribed in Czechia at selected pharmacies in Austria, under a new cross-border e-prescription (eRecept) arrangement that took effect Aug. 5.

Austria is the 10th European country to join the system, giving Czech residents another option when they need to collect regular or urgently needed medication while traveling. The system does not apply to every pharmacy, however, and participation by individual countries remains voluntary.

The cross-border service is part of European cooperation on digital health care. Czech e-prescriptions have been usable in participating European countries since 2023, but the system is not yet available across the entire European Union.

With Austria's addition, Czech e-prescriptions can now be used at participating pharmacies in:

The system works by allowing a participating foreign pharmacy to access information about a Czech patient's prescription electronically. The medication may have a different brand name in another country, but pharmacists can identify the appropriate medicine based on its active ingredient.

Patients should also be aware that information supplied with the medication, such as the package insert, will be provided in the language of the country where the medicine is dispensed.

Not every pharmacy in a participating country accepts foreign e-prescriptions. Individual pharmacies can choose whether to participate, so travelers should check in advance whether a particular pharmacy is part of the system.

The Czech State Institute for Drug Control (SÚKL) provides a list of participating pharmacies across EU countries and other practical information about cross-border e-prescriptions through its e-prescription website.

The system does not replace the option of traveling with a paper prescription. Patients can still use a paper prescription abroad, subject to the rules of the country and pharmacy concerned.

Czechia has used mandatory electronic prescribing for most medications since 2018, with prescriptions recorded in a central electronic system. Patients can receive the code needed to collect a medication by text message or email, or have it printed on paper.

The expansion to Austria also works in both directions. Austrian patients have been able to use their national e-prescriptions at participating Czech pharmacies since February 2026.

For Czech travelers, the new arrangement means that a lost or depleted supply of medication no longer necessarily requires contacting a doctor back home before visiting a pharmacy, provided the prescription is eligible for cross-border dispensing and the pharmacy participates in the system.