11:20am (UK)
'Booze-Cruise'
Concessions Too Late to Appease EU
By Geoff Meade, Europe Editor, PA News
The right to buy duty-paid tobacco and
alcohol in one EU country and import it into the UK or any
other member state was agreed unanimously by EU governments
in 1992 as part of the unprecedented opening up of the
single European market.
As long as the goods are for private consumption – “own
use“, as the Commission puts it – duty is not payable in the
UK.
However, goods brought in for commercial use are still
subject to domestic excise duty rates, on top of the duty
paid in the country of purchase, and anyone evading payment
faces sanctions.
What should be regarded as beyond the norm for “own use” and
what the scale of sanctions should be for those deemed to be
abusing those norms has been a bone of contention between
London and Brussels for years.
To make life easier, EU “indicative” amounts were
established for what is acceptable for private consumption
as “own use”.
Under the guidelines, up to 800 cigarettes, 400 cigarillos,
90 litres of wine (including a maximum of 60 litres of
sparkling wine) and 110 litres of beer should be considered
to be for personal use, although national authorities should
consider “individual circumstances” when carrying out
checks.
For example, if someone is bringing in more than the
guideline levels, that can be deemed to be for personal use
if the person convinces officials it is for a wedding or big
party.
On the other hand if someone bringing in less than guideline
levels has been identified by surveillance operations as
involved in illicit sales evading excise duties, penalties
can be imposed.
In the UK, the guideline quantities are in fact more
generous, with up to 3,200 cigarettes being let in under
normal circumstances before questions are asked.
Under its present sanctions policy, the UK distinguishes
between two types of offenders: those who purchase goods in
other member states and smuggle them back to the UK with a
view to selling them for profit, and those who bring back
more goods than justified for “own use”, with a view to
selling them on to friends or neighbours but without seeking
to make a profit.
For the first category the Commission has no quarrel with a
crackdown against smuggling. But for the second category,
the Commission says seizing the goods, and sometimes
impounding people’s cars, is “disproportionate”.
In its decision to take the UK to court, the Commission said
seizing property was too severe and intrusive when applied
to “minor fiscal offences of a not-for-profit character” and
amounted to an unacceptable obstacle to the free movement of
goods. The Commission said customs should instead simply
collect the duties payable and levy a fine, without keeping
the goods and without impounding vehicles.
This is what Chancellor Gordon Brown is now offering to do
for first-time offenders who are clearly not full-blown
smugglers. But the suggestion came to late to stop the
Commission’s determination to settle the issue in court.
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