Carrying items for other people in my baggage
I will be on a trip with my wife to the US and then head to EU for several weeks. My friends have already asked me to purchase or pick up items in the countries we visit. I'd love to do this for them, but don't want to be dealing with the baggage and items being checked at every destination.
Is there a way to certify that the items carried are risk-free, meaning no drugs, hazardous material or anything like that? Is there any service offered by a courier or some company?
How do "Air On Board Couriers" deal with this when transporting items for others, a form?
I don't want to be liable for anything that was bought and shipped to me in another country. What is the best way to certify that, whatever is there, I am no liable for?
Best Answer
As Dorothy says, anything you transport becomes yours for the purposes of customs. There is no way to 'certify' anything or prevent customs agents examining it. You are responsible for any duties on anything you carry, and you will bear the penalties if they are found to be illegal. This includes the fact that if drugs are found on your person it is you who will serve the years in prison, no matter how often you say you were carrying them for someone else. I know personally several people this has happened to.
Because of this, you should only bring back for people things that you yourself bought in a retail store, or packages that you have checked for yourself contain no contraband. Even this last point is high risk, because drug dealers have a lot of expertize in hiding drugs inside seemingly normal things.
My advice would be to transport only things for people you have known and trusted for a very long time, and only things that are strictly theirs, not anything they are asking on behalf of someone else, or things other people are sending to them. The very fact that you are considering this as a possibility screams "Don't do it".
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Answer 2
There are no prohibitions from travelling with items that are meant for others. However, as you do, they become yours, you own them temporarily, and you are fully responsible for them as you go through security systems and through customs, including payment of duties or import fees (and, perhaps, overweight baggage charges). You assume any and all risks. The only form you'll fill out is your own declaration, on which you list everything, both your own acquisitions and those you're toting for friends.
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