By Bruno Waterfield - 23rd November 2006
The EU courts will be the toast of Europe’s finance ministers after ruling against an extension to Europe’s duty-free shopping rules.
Europe’s smokers and drinkers were closely watching a Thursday European Court of Justice ruling on alcohol duties.
But EU judges have decided against allowing alcohol bought outside a consumer’s home country, online, on the telephone or by catalogue, to be duty-free.
The judgement upholds a 1992 EU rule permitting consumers to pay duty in the country where goods are bought, but only if the alcohol or tobacco is for personal use and transported by the customer themselves.
Consumers will not now be able to buy alcohol and cigarettes online or over the telephone from another EU state where duties are much lower - saving national treasuries billions in excise duties.
“Only products acquired and transported personally by private individuals are exempt from excise duty in the member state of importation,” said an ECJ statement.
“Products which are not held for private purposes must necessarily be regarded as being held for commercial purposes for the application of the directive on excise duty.”
The ruling will disappoint consumers from Britain, Sweden and Denmark, who are among the most highly taxed on alcohol and tobacco.
Millions of citizens from those countries often travel on “booze cruises” abroad to stock up on alcohol and tobacco at lower rates of duty.
UK MEP Richard Ashworth called on the EU to remove limits on goods for personal use now that the door to unaccompanied duty-free purchases has been closed.
“The EU should now remove the limits on booze cruisers bringing goods back from abroad for their personal use. It is wrong that innocent consumers are treated like criminals just for exercising their single market rights,” he said.
“Consumers should be able to exercise their rights in the single market without the inference they are acting illegally.”
The ruling followed a challenge by Dutch wine enthusiasts who set up a group to buy duty-paid French wine for delivery to members in the Netherlands for their own use.
The Netherlands charged excise duty, even though French taxes had already been paid because a third-party was involved in the transport of the wine.
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