Published: 22 Jan 13 07:25 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/national/20130122-47473.html
Germans are smoking less, with higher taxes on tobacco and bans on public smoking seemingly taking effect. The number of legal cigarettes sold last year was nearly six percent down on the previous year, while smuggled smokes held steady.
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Your comments about this article:
I use to frequent an Irish pub but the owner at 10PM would go around and pass out ashtrays to the patrons, and the air would become intolerable for a non smoker. My Q to get out of Dodge.
when you are stopped entering a country (U.K. as well ) and these goods are removed from you it is a breech of E.U. regulations yet strangely enough these rules are just ignored isn't that a surprise.
A free market my a..e.
It does apply to drinks and tobacco - cigarettes smuggled to Germany are likely to have been smuggled from outside the EU, maybe from eastern Europe or Turkey.
"when you are stopped entering a country (U.K. as well ) and these goods are removed from you it is a breech of E.U. regulations yet strangely enough these rules are just ignored isn't that a surprise."
UK HMRC have been fined on several occasions (i.e. the UK taxpayers have been fined) for not following single market rules. When taking tobacco or alcohol into the UK from another part of the EU, you are not required to pay any duty nor are there any limits, IF THEY ARE FOR YOUR OWN PERSONAL USE. It is not up to you to prove that they are for your own use, it is for the HMRC to prove that they are not i.e. they have to catch you selling them later. If they confiscate the goods (and impound the vehicle in which they were transported), you can require restitution and payment of your costs. If you have any trouble, ask them if they fancy another 2 million pound fine. Remember that there are some places that are outside the EU but are part of EU member states e.g. Jersey, Tenerife, etc. - single market rules do not apply to them.
So I should be able bring tobacco to Germany from Luxemburg ,but you can't without trouble at the customs ,and next time I go to the U.K. I can fill the car ,
and have no trouble ,you are correct in everything you say but and it is a big BUT somebody should tell the police and customs.
Funny I don't expect there is a problem taking goods from a high tax country to a lower one ,don't remember ever being checked going from the U.K. back to mainland Europe do you ?.
I was only pointing out the hypocrisy with which tobacco and alcohol are treated.
Something to do with the massive tax one would think.
I guess they didn't see the memo about cutting back.