Exporting Lava Stones from Tenerife within EU
On our vacation in Tenerife we have found some very nice lavastones from the Teide Volcano and want to take them on our flight home (all within EU).
The problem is that our friends went to Egypt once, found some nice stones there and tried to take them home. But it turned out that this was illegal. Airport Security didn't just tell them that they couldn't take the stones home, they were also charged a fee of 2000$.
Is there a law prohibiting us from exporting lava rocks from Tenerife?
Best Answer
There's at least one article online saying it's illegal in protected areas around it, from the Independent:
Rock star: The volcanic attraction of Tenerife
Then, after a brief stop to allow the children to examine some lava shrapnel (it turned out that it was illegal to remove stones from these protected areas), we reached the vast caldera of Teide itself: a bleak, alien landscape, the soil too poor to support much more than bright-green moss.
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Can you take stones from Tenerife?
What not to take from Mount Teide National Park. Rocks or stones! Don't be tempted to take a few volcanic stones home as a souvenir, this is harmful to the environment and completely forbidden.Where is lava rock sourced?
Specifically, most of the lava rock in the US is mined from ancient volcanos out west, from places like Utah, New Mexico, California, Colorado and other states. And, lava rocks are extremely old. In fact, the lava rocks around your palm tree may have come from a 20,000-year-old volcanic eruption.Is lava stone a gemstone?
Lava stones are not really officially recognized as gemstones. In fact, from a geological point of view, they are not gemstones at all! We call them lava stones since this sounds so much better than volcanic rock or pumice stone or igneous rock.What stone comes from lava?
obsidian, igneous rock occurring as a natural glass formed by the rapid cooling of viscous lava from volcanoes.Tenerife, The Island of Hidden volcanoes
More answers regarding exporting Lava Stones from Tenerife within EU
Answer 2
You cannot collect rocks, use a geological hammer, collect plants or wildlife anywhere in the National Park. About two years ago some Germans decided that the rules didn't apply to them, so they went to board a flight back to Munich with 500 grammes of rocks. They didn't leave Tenerife as they were stopped at the boarding gate, their bags opened and they were fined if I recall over 2000 euros EACH for removing rocks without a permit! You make the work of professional geologists who do need to collect specimens so much harder. Leave the rocks where they are. Tenerife IS NOT in the EU - it is an autonomous region and you are subject to the same restrictions when entering the EU as someone from say Australia.
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