Law -
Customs & Excise (Guidelines)
Due
to the excessive levels of duty that the UK
Government levies on UK produced items, it has
resulted in many people travelling to other
countries to bring back goods which can be bought
much cheaper abroad than in their own home towns.
Alcohol and Tobacco being the most popular
imports, since the UK has such high duty levels
on those items. The only requirement to achieve
importation without the imposition of duty is
that those goods must be solely for personal use,
although that includes items which may then be
given away as gifts (but no form of payment or
reward can be accepted in return).
Because of their high rates of duty, it is an
extremely attractive proposition, for someone to
go abroad, bring back alcohol and tobacco, claim
it's for personal use, then sell the items on at
a profit. Customs and Excise therefore have to
determine whether any goods being brought into
the UK are actually for personal use or are
attempts to smuggle goods in with the avoidance
of paying duty. In order to simplify the issue,
what is considered to be a quantity of goods that
is reasonable to be considered as for personal
use has been defined, by way of EU wide
guidelines, with anything above that being
treated suspiciously, as an attempt to smuggle
goods into the country. This is despite the fact
that there are no limits as to what can be
brought in for personal use, despite what Customs
and Excise may tell the travelling public,
alleging, to the unknowing, that the old duty
free limits still remain.
The figures Customs and Excise use seem to be
arbitrarily created. A moderately hardened
drinker, consuming 4 pints a night (2.3 litres),
can bring in enough beer to last for about 50
days. A smoker, on a packet of 20 a day, can
bring in enough cigarettes to last 40 days. Quite
a reasonable quantity, but shouldn't anyone be
allowed to travel abroad and bring back a year's
supply in one go? It's permitted by law, and
there's no reason that shouldn't be done. Except
for the attitude of Customs and Excise.
Our alcoholic smoker, doing one trip a year,
could quite fairly argue that 7,500 cigarettes (9
times the 'limit') and 8,500 litres of beer (7.5
times the 'limit') is entirely acceptable, and
reasonable. A family of four adults would claim
that bringing four times that amount back is
consequently acceptable, and still reasonable.
Customs are however unlikely to agree. Confronted
with a vehicle, which won't be small, loaded up
with 30,000 cigarettes and 35,000 litres of beer,
Customs and Excise are going to think Christmas
has come early. And this is where the real
problems begin. Customs and Excise officers are
the arbiter of what is and isn't for personal
use, and no matter what the truth of the matter
is, they will decide what is 'reasonable' and
what isn't. Of the 15 million travellers who
arrive at the Channel Ports every year, 450,000
are stopped, and 30,000 are unable to convince
Customs and Excise that their imports are for
personal use. Amazingly, 10,000 vehicles a year
are impounded. Proof that pirates still operate
in the UK.
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