End of the limit on the number of cartons of tobacco brought back from abroad: what conditions ?

France has decided to to remove the limit of 200 cigarettes that a traveler could bring back from another country within the European Union, this Friday March 29.

The decree is entered into in effect this Friday, March 29: the limit of 200 cigarettes that a person was authorized to have bringing back from another country of the European Union has been restricted. deleted. Until'à Currently, travelers were also limited to 50 cigars, 250 grams of tobacco, and 250 grams of tobacco. smoke and 100 cigarillos. The objective is to comply with the regulations. with European law. Regulation & the European scale in fact sets personal consumption at a fixed price. 800 cigarettes, or four cartridges, 400 cigarillos, 200 cigars and a kilo of tobacco & to smoke. However, this new French decree does not set a threshold. 

Resale remains prohibited

Other criteria are now taken into account by customs officers: “if customs found that a person was carrying a single cartridge, but with the name of the recipient and the delivery address & which it must be done, çit would fall under the scope of the decree", explains Thomas Cazenave, Minister Delegateé charged public accounts. According to him, it is no longer a logic of "quantity" but a logic of "finality". "Whatever the threshold, if it's for resale, it's not good," ministerial services. 

Customs officers must therefore assess whether these purchases are for their own needs or not. Several elements must be taken into account: "the destination of the holder when it differs from his place of arrival ;usual residence", "activity' éeconomic of the holder", or even the place where the products have been é placed in the vehicle, according to Bercy. "Customs officers now have the possibility of to rely on a body of evidence, to seize and sanction those for whom there is a presumption of trade and therefore of illegal trade, detailed Thomas Cazenave. 

This change comes after a consumer has contacted the Council of State. The authority then requested the government to bring French law into line with European Union law.