I will be travelling through france, belguim ,holland and england and
am confused by duty free restrictions.If, for example, I purchse more
than 2 litres of wine and or spirits and go through customs will I
have to pay duty on the products? Should I keep the receipts?
Do all countries in the EU have the same rules

"Grantg" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:[email protected]...
    > I will be travelling through france, belguim ,holland and england and
    > am confused by duty free restrictions.If, for example, I purchse more
    > than 2 litres of wine and or spirits and go through customs will I
    > have to pay duty on the products? Should I keep the receipts?
    > Do all countries in the EU have the same rules

If you travel within EU-area there is no duty free. It is the same costums
area.

lg Gernot

If you're entering the EU from a non-EU country you can buy duty free and
take it into Europe. Similarly, when you return home you will be allowed to
buy duty-free when leaving the EU.

"Grantg" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > I will be travelling through france, belguim ,holland and england and
    > am confused by duty free restrictions.If, for example, I purchse more
    > than 2 litres of wine and or spirits and go through customs will I
    > have to pay duty on the products? Should I keep the receipts?
    > Do all countries in the EU have the same rules

Watch out! Cigarettes have a limit when entering the UK. Also wine and
spirits can be four times more expensive in England than in France or Spain.

"Grantg" escribió en el mensaje
news:[email protected]...
    > I will be travelling through france, belguim ,holland and england and
    > am confused by duty free restrictions.If, for example, I purchse more
    > than 2 litres of wine and or spirits and go through customs will I
    > have to pay duty on the products? Should I keep the receipts?
    > Do all countries in the EU have the same rules

"Grantg" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > I will be travelling through france, belguim ,holland and england and
    > am confused by duty free restrictions.If, for example, I purchse more
    > than 2 litres of wine and or spirits and go through customs will I
    > have to pay duty on the products? Should I keep the receipts?
    > Do all countries in the EU have the same rules

Grant:

To clarify, intra-EU duty free was abolished in 1999. You cannot buy duty
free goods at airports within the EU if you are travelling to another EU
country.

If you are arriving from outside the EU, you can *in general* bring 1 litre
of spirits, and 200 cigarettes. Additional allowances may vary according to
the country you first land in from outside the EU.

Once you are IN the EU, you can buy as much as you like and travel with it,
although the UK may ask questions if you have more than 1000 cigarettes
and/or 10 litres of spirits - in practice, you're unlikely to have more than
this if you are not travelling with your own car.

EU rules do differ slightly from one country to another but in the case of
France, Belgium and the Netherlands I would be most surprised if there are
any checks at all at borders: these countries are part of the Schengen
common travel area and you don't even get your passport checked at their
borders with one another.

In any case, if you're coming from Canada, I believe you will find booze
pretty cheap in mainland Europe, although not so in the UK.

Forget Duty Free at Heathrow!

Their booze costs more there than here in Canada - and I still have to
pay PST and GST, BUT it is still less expensive than at Heathrow.

I am not sure about other "duty free" places though.

Ken

Hi,

but it makes sense to make the most of your duty free allowance.

for example when it's time to go home, and you find you haven't bought
any sparkling wine... well you may as well get a bottle of duty free
champagne since the tax is high.

I've never been asked for reciepts... they can if they choose to get you
on the dollar amount.

and sometimes they just don't bother... I've carried back a case of
belgian beer and they just waved me on despite it being 12 750ml corked
bottles.

some things are just flat duty free... like loose gemstones.

Gernot Egger wrote:
    > "Grantg" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
    > news:[email protected]...
    >
    >>I will be travelling through france, belguim ,holland and england and
    >>am confused by duty free restrictions.If, for example, I purchse more
    >>than 2 litres of wine and or spirits and go through customs will I
    >>have to pay duty on the products? Should I keep the receipts?
    >>Do all countries in the EU have the same rules
    >
    >
    > If you travel within EU-area there is no duty free. It is the same costums
    > area.
    >
    > lg Gernot
    >
    >

"Iain" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > Watch out! Cigarettes have a limit when entering the UK. Also wine and
    > spirits can be four times more expensive in England than in France or
Spain.
Too true! If England is your last stop, buy what you want to take home in a
supermarket in one of the other countries you're visiting. Even though
you'll pay that country's duty, it will still be a lot cheaper than UK
"duty-free" prices.

Elaine

In article ,
Grantg wrote:

    > I will be travelling through france, belguim ,holland and england and
    > am confused by duty free restrictions.If, for example, I purchse more
    > than 2 litres of wine and or spirits and go through customs will I
    > have to pay duty on the products? Should I keep the receipts?
    > Do all countries in the EU have the same rules

If you are travelling within these countries (the E.U.) and the stuff is
for your own consumption, you shouldn't have to worry.

"Grantg" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > I will be travelling through france, belguim ,holland and england and
    > am confused by duty free restrictions.If, for example, I purchse more
    > than 2 litres of wine and or spirits and go through customs will I
    > have to pay duty on the products? Should I keep the receipts?

Duty free only applies when you enter the EU and when you leave it. You need
to check the restrictions for your country of entry and for your own country
when you leave. Within the EU, the only problem is if you plan to bring
ridiculous amounts of tobacco or alcohol into the UK. Otherwise, anything
you have bought in another EU country can be freely transported across the
borders.

The UK rules are at

http://www.hmce.gov.uk/public/yourcust/yourcust.htm

Colin Bignell