When drug donations are made between governments as humanitarian support in long-lasting complex emergencies and as regular development (commodity) aid there is usually more time to consider specific demands from the recipient's side. On the other hand, there is also time to link more restrictions to the donation, e.g. to products from manufacturers in the donor country, and to drugs registered for use in the recipient country.

It should be recognized that drugs do not arrive in an administrative vacuum. Drug donations should not create an abnormal situation which may obstruct or delay national capacity building in selection, procurement, storage, distribution and rational use of drugs. Special care should therefore be taken that the donated drugs respond to an expressed need, comply with the national drug policy, and are in accordance with national treatment guidelines in the recipient country. Administratively, the drugs should be treated as if they were procured. This means that they should be registered or authorized for use in the country through the same procedure that is used for government tenders. They should be entered into the inventory, distributed through the existing distribution channels and be subject to the same quality assurance procedures. If cost-sharing procedures are operational in the recipient country, the donated drugs should not automatically be distributed free of charge.