Duty free when flying to two different EU countries with 2 litres of spirits?
As I understand it, the limits for duty free for both the UK and France for people arriving from outside of the EU is a maximum of 1 litre of alcoholic beverages over 22%. As such, on a single direct flight into the EU, one person wouldn't be allowed to enter with 2 litres of spirits without paying duty. However...
Consider a trip which was USA to Paris with a few hours stopover in London, then the next day a flight from Paris back to London. Assume two pieces of checked luggage.
On your flight from Europe to the USA, you buy one litre of duty free spirits. Before leaving the USA, you put that in bag #1. At the airport, you short-check bag #2 to London, and have bag #1 (with the duty free) checked all the way to Paris. After checkin, you then buy another litre of duty free spirits.
On arrival in London, you clear immigration, collect your short checked bag, clear customs with just the USA-purchased 1L of spirits, pop the duty free in that bag and leave it in left luggage. You then re-clear security and carry on to Paris. The next day, you fly from Paris back to London, with the other litre of spirits still in your other piece of checked luggage.
When you go to customs in London for the second time, with the other bottle, are you permitted to exit without paying any duty? Does the side trip to France with the second bottle reset your limit?
Best Answer
If I follow you correctly, you entered the EU with two litres of spirits. Enforcement might be complicated by your complex bag checking wizardry but your legal position seems clear to me: You have crossed an external border once, there is no reason for any limit to be “reset”. Even if you only have to clear customs with your second bag on your final destination and nobody will search it in London, you are not in transit to anywhere outside the union and that's when you violated the rules.
More interesting, you could in theory buy everything you want in London and then show up in Paris with a lot more alcohol than you had the right to import from the US. You better keep all the receipts in case your luggage gets searched!
And for even more arcane ways to fraud: Leave the extra bottle with a friend in Paris or send it by post to yourself! But you would in any case have entered the EU with more spirits than allowed without paying duty, there is no doubt about that in my mind…
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How many Litres of spirits can I bring back from Spain?
Customs checksType of goodsAmountBeer110 litresWine90 litresSpirits10 litresFortified wine (for example sherry, port)20 litres5 more rowsHow many Litres of alcohol can I bring into UK from EU?
You can also bring in either: spirits and other liquors over 22% alcohol - 4 litres. sparkling wine, fortified wine (for example port, sherry) and other alcoholic drinks up to 22% alcohol (not including beer or still wine) - 9 litres.Can I buy duty free if I have a connecting flight Europe?
You can only take liquid duty free items above 100ml through the security check point at your connecting airport if they have been purchased at another EU airport or in Iceland, Norway or Switzerland, or on board an aircraft operated by an EU carrier or a carrier of Iceland, Norway or Switzerland.How much liquor can you take to Europe?
Entering the EU from a non-EU country You can bring in the following amounts of alcohol: 4l of non-sparkling wine, 16l of beer, 1l of spirits or 1l of undenatured (drinkable) alcohol or 2l of fortified or sparkling wine.Traveling with two passports - I almost got arrested | Jure Sanguinis Italian Dual Citizenship
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