an adjunct to the patient's physician if the patient submits medical records documenting a condition for which the requested medication is deemed appropriate for treatment. sections 956 and 1301 provide exemptions for travellers who bring small quantities of controlled substances in or out of the country in person but not by mail. importation of an unapproved prescription drug (not necessarily a controlled substance) violates 21 usc, section 301(aa), even for personal use. the food, drug, and cosmetic act does allow for the importation of drug products for unapproved new drugs for which there is no approved american version. however, this allowance does not allow for the importation of foreign-made versions of u.s. approved drugs. the law further specifies that enforcement should be focused on cases in which the importation by an individual poses a threat to public health, and discretion should be exercised to permit individuals to make such importations in circumstances in which the prescription drug or device imported does not appear to present an unreasonable risk to the individual. it is also illegal to import non-approved drugs (21 usc sections 331(d) and 355(a)); however, fda policies suggest that, under certain circumstances, patients may be allowed to keep these drugs. individual u.s. states may implement laws regulating importation, possession, and trafficking in prescription drugs and controlled substances. for several years, the states of nevada, minnesota, illinois and wisconsin have run official state programs to help their residents order lower-cost drugs from abroad to save money. mail fraud all online pharmacies sell through the internet but must ship the product usually via mail. the selling of many class (schedule) drugs without a valid prescription (also called rx-only drugs or legend drugs) is illegal, and companies shipping them by mail can be prosecuted for mail fraud (postal inspection service) as well as being investigated and federally charged by the dea, irs, homeland security, food and drug administration's office of criminal investigations, department of justice, interpol, and the u.s. immigration and customs enforcement (ice), and it is common practice for many agencies to jointly investigate alleged crimes. bulgarian consumers all bulgarian online pharmacies must be registered with the bulgarian drug agency (bda), which controls the medicine trade and reviews when there is doubt in drug quality and safety. a special bda logo and a certificate for registration of pharmacy prove the accreditation and the legitimacy of the store. clicking on the logo takes the consumer to the official page of the bulgarian drug agency. the web page must deliver information about the pharmacy's name, address, registration number, and its manager. canadian online pharmacies selling to united states customers buying prescription drugs from even the most well-respected internet pharmacies in canada often results in a prescription filled from drugs sourced not from canada but caribbean nations or from eastern europe. the canadian online pharmacy that sells the drugs offers them at canadian prices but buys at a still cheaper rate from third parties overseas; this has led to problems with prescriptions being filled with counterfeit drugs. some pharmacists have left the business because of the ethical issues involved. in 2014, the largest online canadian drug retailer was prohibited from selling wholesale drugs by health canada. of the three primary entrepreneurs of online canadian drugs sold to the united states, one has been imprisoned, one left the industry, and the third is under investigation for criminal wrongdoing. the same errors have occurred in u.s. pharmacies, notably cvs. for more about this, see "canada drugs' history and closure." indian consumers " regulatory control over drug advertisements on television or the internet" combined with a growing e-commerce in india has led to a significant increase in the use of online pharmacies. the indian government is planning to spend ₹5 billion ($70.5 million u.s.) on computer literacy projects for 5 million people over 3 years in order to help indian citizens access government services in the fields of e-education, e-health, and e-governance. health care providers in india were also expected to spend ₹78.92 billion ($1.1 billion u.s.) on it products and services in 2014. these technologies could aid the country in meeting their healthcare objectives. legal status in india main article: online pharmacy laws in india while there are no laws specifically targeting online pharmacies in india, various laws govern online pharmacies indirectly. the drugs and cosmetics act (1940) and the drugs and cosmetics rules (1945) contain guidelines concerning the sale of schedule h and schedule x drugs, which can only be obtained through prescription. there are also specific rules for labeling and barcoding. it appears that electronic prescriptions should be valid, especially in the light of the pharmacy practice regulations-2015 declared by the pharmacy council of india in january 2015. in these regulations, "prescription," as defined by regulation 2, (j) means "a written or electronic direction from a registered medical practitioner." based on existing regulations, it appears that a scanned copy of a prescription would be considered as a valid prescription. however, whether such electronic prescriptions can be used to buy medicine from online pharmacies has been questioned. the maharashtra food and drugs administration (fda) raided 27 online pharmacies located in mumbai, thane, and pune and seized drugs worth ₹2 million. the delhi high court banned the online sale of medicines in the country on december 12, 2018 after listening to a public interest litigation hearing by dr. ahmed zaheer. this order illegalizes the sale of medicines through the internet in india. the petitioner argued that the sale of medicines could only take place in licensed premises for which the licenses are issued under the drug & cosmetics act 1940. home delivery of medicines by online players is in contravention of the act. pakistani consumers in 2015, the drug regulatory authority of pakistan act passed for the registration of homeopathic, herbal, unani, allopathic, and nutraceutical products. this has also implied that only registered retail pharmacies can sell such items, along with otc and prescription medication, to the public. the sale of all drugs in pakistan is subject to the drugs act of 1976. uk consumers in the u.k., online pharmacies are technically known as distance selling pharmacies. in the u.k, more than 2 million people buy drugs regularly on the internet from online pharmacies; some are legitimate, but others have "dangerous practices" that could endanger children. in 2008, the royal pharmaceutical society of great britain (rpsgb) introduced a green cross logo to help identify accredited online pharmacies (from 2010 the internet pharmacy logo scheme is run by the gphc). european registered pharmacists have reciprocal agreements allowing them to practice in the u.k. by registering with the general pharmaceutical council. the first online pharmacy in the u.k. was pharmacy2u, which started operating in 1999. the uk is a frontline leader in internet pharmacies since a change to nhs pharmacy regulations in 2005 that made it legal for pharmacies to fill nhs prescriptions over the internet. drugs supplied in this way tend to be medicines which doctors refuse to prescribe for patients or would charge a private prescription fee, as all patients treated under the national health service (nhs) pay either a flat price or nothing for prescribed medicine (except for medicine classed as lifestyle medicine, e.g., antimalarials for travel) and medical equipment. since july 2015 the medicines and products regulatory agency (mhra) has required online sellers of medicines to adopt an e.u. wide logo and maintain an entry in the mhra medicines sellers registry. in the u.k., online pharmacies often link up with online clinic doctors. doctors carry out online consultations and issue prescriptions. the company employing the doctors must be registered with the care quality commission. online clinics only prescribe a limited number of medicines and do not replace regular doctors working from surgeries. there are various ways the doctors carry out the online consultations; sometimes, it is done almost entirely by questionnaire. customers usually pay one fee, which includes the price of the consultation, prescription, and the price of the medicine. as of april 2016, there were 46 registered online pharmacies in england. in april 2017, the care quality commission suspended the registration of doctor matt ltd because of inadequate medical assessment of prescription requests. six have been warned after inspections. by 2019/20, there were 390 distance selling pharmacies in the u.k. pharmacy2u claimed in june 2018 that online dispensing could save the nhs up to £400 million a year, a claim disputed by other pharmacy organizations. from 1 january 2021, as a result of brexit, great britain (england, wales and scotland) based online pharmacies are no longer required to display the eu common logo (in the uk known as the distance selling logo).