The UKBA's guidelines of 1kg of Tobacco and 800 Cigarettes are simply guidelines and NOTHING more.They are NOT allowances or limits ... period!
You are allowed to bring back as MUCH AS YOU LIKE for your OWN PERSONAL USE. Personal use includes gifts but remember that gifts have to be exactly that … gifts. You CANNOT class purchases as gifts if you are receiving anything back for them or in payment for someone doing a job for you etc as this will be classed as commercial and not personal use. Think of gifts as the same way you do for Xmas and birthdays … those are gifts. Neither can you accept money off people to buy tobacco/cigarettes for them. It does not matter whether they are friends or family … this is NOT allowed! Your purchases of tobacco/cigarettes HAVE to be for YOUR OWN personal use … period!
When you are exercising your RIGHT to buy as much as you like for your own personal use, you MUST be prepared for the UKBA if they stop you.
Go to our INTRODUCTION to find out how.
lf you need more advice, please get in touch with us by joining our FORUM
You are allowed to bring back as MUCH AS YOU LIKE for your OWN PERSONAL USE. Personal use includes gifts but remember that gifts have to be exactly that … gifts. You CANNOT class purchases as gifts if you are receiving anything back for them or in payment for someone doing a job for you etc as this will be classed as commercial and not personal use. Think of gifts as the same way you do for Xmas and birthdays … those are gifts. Neither can you accept money off people to buy tobacco/cigarettes for them. It does not matter whether they are friends or family … this is NOT allowed! Your purchases of tobacco/cigarettes HAVE to be for YOUR OWN personal use … period!
When you are exercising your RIGHT to buy as much as you like for your own personal use, you MUST be prepared for the UKBA if they stop you.
Go to our INTRODUCTION to find out how.
lf you need more advice, please get in touch with us by joining our FORUM
is this goverment not wrong in changing the guidlines under eu law like the so called tanker drivers strike that as not taken place i e relax driving laws set down by the eu and by this goerment causing panic look how much more tax and vat thay have coned the public of the uk again
ReplyDeletehmrc nice to see thay have been to the charm school this is not by there own doing its the fact that now the duty of care law is now in place its better thay smile or any wrong doing by them may lead to them going down parkhurst is good this time of the year
ReplyDeleteFolks do these rules apply to Turkey? As turkey is outside the EU is it possible to use the personal use gambit?
ReplyDeleteI think you can only bring one sleeve back from non-EU countries .
DeletePersonal use is only for goods bought within EU
ReplyDeleteRemember that the Canary islands are NOT deemed to be part of the EU despite being governed by Spain.
DeleteLast year an excitable and overly pleased UKBA official took immense pleasure in confiscating 1200 cigs and 2 pouches of baccy from me. They do not even allow you to keep your personal allowance.
Didn't there used to be a limit on the amount for personal use you could bring from the "newer entrants" to the EU? Does this no longer apply?
ReplyDeleteUsed to be limits from such as Bulgaria, Romania but that stopped 1st Jan 2010
DeleteThank you!
DeleteAt Faro Airport this year I was told in the tobacco shop that I was definitely not allowed to take more than 800 cigarettes into the UK. I explained tothe shop assistant that this was a guideline amount but she got pretty angry and said that it was the law that I could only take 800 cigarettes into the UK.
ReplyDeleteThis whole situation is getting totally ridiculous. I did also get stopped and my whole vehicle taken apart at the tunnel customs in Calais without anyone telling me why they were doing this despite my constantly asking why they thought they should search my car.
I forgot to mention that I only had 400 cigarettes on board as I travel often (the reason I want to stay anonymous).
ReplyDeleteMy question is this:- Do I have to answer where I have been and why? I thought as a British Citizen I could come and go as I please. Surely no ecxplanation is necessary. I wish they would have just got on with their job without keep asking me petty questions.
They also took my passport away without asking me if they could.
Yes they have powers to ask where you been and take your passport as customs merge wiv immigration now
Deletecustoms check how many times you have left the uk when they take your passport
Deletethese UKBA think there god, it would be easier to be foreign and bring some in. they never seem to be stopped
ReplyDelete''Your purchases of tobacco/cigarettes HAVE to be for YOUR OWN personal use … period!''
ReplyDelete------i am afraid this phrase ''YOUR OWN'' is wrong totally...----- any purchase as gift or for FAMILY MEMBERS counts to unlimited amount....
please feel free to munch in to the relevant eu law :)
There are no limits on what private persons can buy and take with them when they travel between EU countries, as long as the products purchased are for personal use and not for resale, with exception of new means of transport. Taxes (VAT and excise) will be included in the price of the products in the Member State of purchase and no further payment of taxes can be due in any other Member State.
Tobacco and alcohol
However, special rules apply in the case of goods subject to excise duty, such as alcoholic beverages and tobacco products. If a private person purchases such products in one Member State and takes them to another Member State, the principle that no excise duty has to be paid in the Member State of destination only applies if the goods are
•for the own use of the traveller or his family and
•transported by himself.
To determine whether these products are for the own use of the traveller, Member States must take account of all the relevant factors. These include:
•The commercial status of the holder of the products and his reasons for holding them;
•The place where the products are located or, if appropriate, the mode of transport used;
•Any document relating to the products;
•The nature of the products;
•The quantity of the products.
As to the last element, Member States may lay down guide levels, solely as a form as evidence, which cannot be lower than the following quantities:
munchies...
ReplyDeletehttp://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/common/travellers/within_eu/index_en.htm
Munchies ... from Sect 13 Excise Goods (Holding, Movement and Duty Point) Regs 2010 and EU Directive 2008/118/EEC
ReplyDeleteb)“own use” includes use as a personal gift but does not include the transfer of the goods to another person for money or money’s worth (including any reimbursement of expenses incurred in connection with obtaining them)
:)
hey munchies, ever heard of teaching your grandma to suck eggs? lol
ReplyDeletedark force i see in you :) explain you i will my padavan:) Help you I can. Yes, mmmm :)
ReplyDeletewill start with a quote as follows ;
''''Stopped they must be; on this all depends. Only a fully trained Jedi Knight, with the Force as his ally, will conquer Vader and his Emperor. If you end your training now - if you choose the quick and easy path as Vader did - you will become an agent of evil.''''
First establish something here please.
This writing is for personal use,including gifts of any sort with strictly no money involved, otherwise you obviously have some other financial aspect of this whole crap.
again/personaluse/heavy smoker/parents/friends brings in tobacco as a GIFT!!!!, as far as i know there is no regulation what can be branded as a gift!:)
NOW
1-relevant eu law sites for personal use.
2-includes family members and/or gifts
3- there is no limit ass:)uch ( 1kg of tobacco OR any cigars,cigarettes,) NOR any sort of tobacco/alcohol product.
what you read is guidelines... obviously you dont wanna show up in customs with 60 litres of bourbon and say i will drink it ! and i smoke 100 rolls a day !
4-E.A: My friend comes form portugal and since he knows i am a heavy smoker he brings SOME tobacco for me as a GIFT... you get it its a gift...GIFT.
5- Did you pay your parents when they gave you a christmas gift ?
now since i am not in a mood to pay for a gift given to me NOR sell it to make a quick buck or exchange of money is not involved in any way.
NO MONEY INVOLVED
Please kindly be advised my youg padavan :)
''as a personal gift but does not include the transfer of the goods to another person for money or money’s worth''
Are you related to the Bursar of the UE? :)
Deleteto my young/admin/anon/ padavan.:)
Delete#(say may rather i this enjoy )
what makes you think our law is above EU law.? you sign it and you are liable period
mislead/delibarate information on certain pages(ukba/hmrc) is my point.!
i can/may very well be a bursar though i gotta report to someone dont i :)
go i will now, practice you my young one :)
yoda :)
comes to ano!
ReplyDeletedont know if your the webmaster or admin, though message affirmed.but will/shall not pull out my old testiment for thye kiddies with lollies
pointed out '' '' from eu,for personal usage only !
yoda my admin padovan :)
Anon is neither ... just anon :)
DeleteI was told at UKBA the Legal limit for baccy was 1kg, i dont think the customs man didnt like me telling him that as long as it was for me i could bring as much as i liked as again he said 1kg was the limit. My mate who brought back the same as me [3kg] was not even challenged. So much inconsistancy!!!!!!! CALAIS UKBA DICKS.
ReplyDeletehelp i can able be :)
Delete1- have you recorded this conversation by any means (esp. Legal limit for baccy was 1kg)
2- do you have the proof of purchase from another EU country. cash/card/including tax paid
3-are you employed or can you support yourself/self sufficant
4-how many times you traveled within the last 3 years within EU and how many KG you brought with you./did you declare them / have you been stopped before/anything taken from you
5-have you been given offical written explanation why they have been confiscated from you
6- how many YOU smoke a day
7- little less known here but can you prove you are a heavy smoker (nhs/gp) and/or you are in low income/and or purchasing tobacco here causes financial burden to you ?
8- DID YOU SIGN ANYTHING?
IF MOST of the questions here asked makes sense to you please see relevant pages of the webpage as you are most likely to be able to request (after first making a complaint) your goods back !(unless its not within time limit)
yoda :)
/update/erase if necessary admin :)
m going to france on ferry next week there will be five people in my car and we are going to bring back 15k of tabbaco between us for xmas presents lets say,can customs take this of me being they are saying 1kg per person
ReplyDeleteYes they can if you don't take the advice that's on this site. You should join the N2D forum http://n2d.boardhost.com/
DeleteThere's usually someone on there that will give answer any other questions you might have.
I came back from Krakow a few weeks ago and was stopped with 50 sleeves of L&B cigs. I just had to prove that i had the money to cover this and that i worked etc, so bank statements needed. Took these statements and got them all back the next day.
ReplyDeleteHappy days.
Since I am a non-smoker, how many tobacco I can bring for a gifts? For example: 2kg for brother, 2kg for friend #1, 2kg for friend #2, 2kg for mother, 2kg for father. If i will have with me "Statement of Truth".
ReplyDeleteAlways have a statement of truth. There is no limit as to what you can buy as gifts. However, you will have to justify to Customs that you can afford to purchase and give away these gifts. They must be gifts and as such you receive nothing back for them, money or 'in kind'.
ReplyDeletehi anonomous 3rd december 2012-- have a chance of a cheap trip- to krakow- want to take advantage of cheap tobacco etc- has the law changed- everything read says it is 200 cigs limit, please advise, ukba have it down as 200 on their website-
ReplyDeleteLaw has not changed. There is NO limit for personal use ... period!
DeleteHelp wht can i bring bck from turkey ?
ReplyDelete200 cigs - turkey is not in EU
DeleteHello, I am brought 8400 cigarettes from Lithuania (EU) to UK for personal use. UK border stop me at UK airport and seized them,because they think, it can be for commercial purpose. I can appeal now and go to court. How much chances I can win a court and get cigarettes back? Thank you
ReplyDeleteHi Anonymous Monday, January 20, 2014 10:58:00 pm,
ReplyDeleteI am in the same situation. Did you do anything, did you send them any letters?
Thank you,
Vaida