Is Codeine legal in Austria?

Legal status

Austria controls this as a Suchtgift under the Suchtmittelgesetz. In the Suchtgiftverordnung, Annex II carries Codein, and Annex III.1 sets its combination limits at not more than 100 mg of narcotic per single dose calculated as base, or 2.5 per cent in undivided preparations. Qualifying combination preparations move into the special treatment of Annex III.1. They do not thereby leave the narcotics instrument, and describing a codeine cough product as simply outside Austrian drug law is wrong. Austria designates by delegated regulation rather than by naming substances in the Act. SMG §2(1) requires both convention restriction and a ministerial designation, and the annexes of the Suchtgiftverordnung are that designation. Each annex is read on its own terms. The extension clauses differ between I.1.c, I.2, II, IV.1, V.1 and V.2, and SV §1(5) supplies the isomer rule for all of them without becoming a general analogue provision.

Consequences if caught

Capital exposure: none. What this row exposes a person to runs as far as life imprisonment, carried by SMG §28a(5) and by nothing else, for leadership within a larger connection of people committing §28a(1) conduct. No Austrian offence is capital. Codeine is the row where the dose arithmetic decides the tier, because a preparation inside the Annex III.1 limits and one outside them are treated differently. The everyday tiers are §27(1) at one year or 360 day fines and §27(2) at six months for exclusively personal use, with §27(2a) reaching two years for the specified paid supply in a public transport vehicle. Confiscation runs separately under SMG §34 by reference to StGB §26, and SMG §33 removes financial offence punishability for the same act on its stated conviction or diversion conditions, so a second fine is not simply added. Separately from that, and carried forward from this site's published Austria entry rather than re-derived from the Suchtmittelgesetz in this pass, the published penalties are these. Austrian practice is depenalised and not legalised, and the published entry says so in those terms. There is no legal minimum quantity, and possession of any amount for personal use is punishable under section 27, up to six months in prison or a fine. Under Therapie statt Strafe at section 35, small quantity personal use is typically provisionally suspended from prosecution on one to two years of probation where the person accepts counselling or treatment. Consumption itself is not criminalised, but the possession that precedes it is. Above the Grenzmenge, the threshold quantity, the offence becomes dealing or trafficking under sections 28 and 28a, up to one to three years, escalating to ten to fifteen years for commercial or organised cases. Every figure in this paragraph is a penalty range or a fine and none of them is a quantity threshold. They describe the offences that this row's placement in the Austrian Suchtgift and psychotrope lists brings into play.

If prescribed or medical

The rule that governs every traveller in Austria is SMG §5(1). It confines the acquisition, possession, production, processing, carriage, import, export, offering, transfer and procurement of a Suchtmittel to medical, dental, veterinary and scientific purposes, and the particular travel, licensing and dispensing provisions operate inside it rather than around it. Because this substance is a Suchtgift, the psychotrope non punishment route in SMG §30(3) is not available to it: that provision reaches medicines containing a psychotropic substance, and a narcotic is not one. The travel certificate fields that close Annexes 2 and 3 of the Psychotropenverordnung belong to the psychotrope system in the same way. Codeine is the traveller's most common encounter with this system, and the Annex III.1 special treatment is what a qualifying combination product relies on rather than any general allowance.

Documentation

Carry the labelled pharmacy pack and the paperwork that names you as the patient, states the active substance and dose, and gives the treatment period, because nothing about a narcotic is presumed lawful in Austria. A combination codeine product relies on the Annex III.1 dose and composition limits, so keep the packaging that states the per dose content. The narcotics list was read at its 18 September 2026 consolidation, whose last listed amendment is BGBl II 180/2026 published 10 July 2026, which is a dated source horizon rather than a guarantee that no later instrument exists.

Drug laws and enforcement change and vary within a country. This is not legal advice. Always confirm with Austria’s embassy or official drug authority before traveling; penalties can be severe, including imprisonment.