Whilst travelling inside the EU, you may only buy duty-free tobacco and alcohol products for your own personal use; you are prohibited to purchase such items for resale in your own country. If you are suspected of doing this your goods will be confiscated, possibly as well the vehicle you are driving, and you may face a jail sentence depending on the severity of the offence.
The term 'for personal use' resides in a rather grey area when trying to quantify how much duty-free you can bring back into the UK. HM Customs and Excise has therefore issued a decree not only based on the amount of goods you are entering into the country. For example, you are particularly likely to attract attention from customs officers if you have more than:
* 3200 Cigarettes
* 400 Cigarillos
* 200 Cigars
* 3kg of Tobacco
Or
* 110 litres of Beer
* 90 litres of Wine
* 20 Litres of Fortified Wine- less than 22% by Vol. Alcohol
* 10 Litres of Spirits- more than 22% by Vol. Alcohol
If you have anything in excess of the above, you are very likely to be questioned by customs officers, wanting to determine the legitimacy of your trip.
Ensure that you have adequate cover also in case any of your luggage goes missing if you are bringing back valuable goods such as expensive perfumes and cigarettes.
