How legal is this?

[excalibur]

cheap fags (http://www.europecigarettes.com/pages/palace.htm)

would save a lot of money.....£15 for 200 delivered to the door.

I know there are no limits on what you can buy abroad nowadays as long as they are for personal use (I know the customs have guidelines on how much they think you should buy, but they are only that, guidelines not law)....so is there any difference in driving over the channel and picking them up yourself and getting them mail order?

Failing that anyone know who the bootleggers are round the Bradford area......have been paying full price since I moved here

[Bag Lady]

Saw a reort on this the other day.....most of them are European/Third world manufactured and they contain Arsenic, Tin and Chromium in very heavy levels. The Nicotine and Tar content are also very variable. The brand names are counterfeit but look just like ordinary branded fags.

Apparently they are not very good for your health..... :confused:

Not a smoker myself but the report was quite shocking, the main jist was that you will live longer if you smoke UK fags....

Probably cause you cant smoke so many as they cost more.....

[Blue]

You can get cigarettes mail order from abroad, but if Customs or the sorting office at Mount Pleasant opens the package you'll be landed with (at the very least) paying the excess duty. I use www.lowpricecigarettes.com which sell genuine makes and post stuff over in padded envelopes with a sticker saying it's from a t-shirt firm or something like that.

[excalibur]

Ive just looked at that site Blue, and it appears that they are legal, with duty being paid on them in Europe......so technicaly it should be just the same as driving over and fetching them yourself

[Blue]

Ive just looked at that site Blue, and it appears that they are legal, with duty being paid on them in Europe......so technicaly it should be just the same as driving over and fetching them yourself

All the online sites say that it's legal 'because the duty is paid in the country of origin'. But the problem lies with Article 8 of Council Directive 92/12/EEC over which online tobacco retailers and UK Customs disagree. Basically the article says that products acquired by 'private individuals for their own use and transported by them' will have the duty charged in the country where they're acquired (eg, if you buy fags in France and bring them back on the ferry).

The online suppliers have interpreted this law as meaning that if someone has paid for the postage, then that should count as them transporting the goods themselves, and hence not attract UK duty. Customs sees things a bit differently: they interpret the law as meaning that if someone buys the goods in another EU country (and pays that country's duty) then they must actually travel with the goods back home. The mail doesn't count as 'personal transportation'.

In short, Customs & Excise's stance on this is:
'It is currently illegal to import cigarettes into this country through the post without paying the relevant duty', with 'relevant duty' in this case meaning 'UK duty'.

In reality, as I've found, a lot of the parcels do get through because Customs don't have the resources to check every single package. Some of the online firms will even offer to resend any parcels that are seized by Customs, which is a good indicator of how much money they're making. If Customs opens a parcel from abroad containing tobacco they can seize the fags and charge you the duty, or, if they're having a bad day, they can prosecute (and, because you'll probably have paid online with a credit card, you can't use the defence of 'Dunno anything about it, must be a surprise present from someone...')

[technoboiler]

i get tobacco and spirits sent over from a friend in germany
and the parcells have been opened and checked but i still get em...
maybe coz its only small amounts and not lots of the stuff i get away with it?

[kitkatman]

The online suppliers have interpreted this law as meaning that if someone has paid for the postage, then that should count as them transporting the goods themselves, and hence not attract UK duty. Customs sees things a bit differently: they interpret the law as meaning that if someone buys the goods in another EU country (and pays that country's duty) then they must actually travel with the goods back home. The mail doesn't count as 'personal transportation'.

')

sod it, i really wanted that battle ship from greece....how the hell am i going to get that in the suitcase!

[Santa]

Little pieces in lots of suitcases?
Or................................................


















one huge suitcase :D

[Blue]

sod it, i really wanted that battle ship from greece....how the hell am i going to get that in the suitcase!

Men - you just don't know how to pack!