Are peptides legal? Guides by jurisdiction

Approved, unapproved, and prohibited are three different things. Semaglutide is an approved medicine. BPC-157 is an unapproved substance that is not a controlled drug in most countries. Neither is “illegal” in the way a scheduled narcotic is. Most confusion online comes from collapsing these into one category.

Possession, import and supply are regulated separately. A country can permit possession while prohibiting import by post, and prosecute supply far more harshly than either. Germany publishes threshold quantities above which possession becomes a criminal matter; Portugal sets no threshold at all.

Personal importation is national law, not EU law. There is no harmonised European rule, which is why neighbouring countries reach opposite answers — Denmark opened third-country postal imports in January 2026, while Norway prohibits prescription medicines by post from everywhere, including from Denmark.

Anti-doping law is a parallel regime. A substance can be lawful to possess and still end a competitive career. WADA’s list operates independently of medicines regulation, and several countries — Sweden, Denmark, Norway — also criminalise possession of doping-listed substances under statutes separate from their medicines acts.