Shopping

Within the EU

There are no limits on what you can buy and take with you when you travel between EU countries, as long as it is for personal use and not for resale. Taxes (VAT and excise duties) are included in the price you pay and no further payment of tax can be due in any other EU country.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tobacco and alcohol

To determine whether tobacco and alcohol are for personal use, each country can set guide levels. In other words, if you carry a larger quantity of these goods, you may be asked to prove that they are intended for personal use and to justify their purchase. The guide levels may not be lower than:

 

• 800 cigarettes
• 400 cigarillos
• 200 cigars
• 1 kg of tobacco
• 10 litres of spirits
• 20 litres of fortified wine (such as port or sherry)
• 90 litres of wine (of which, a maximum of 60 litres of sparkling wine)
• 110 litres of beer

Until the end of 2009, some countries are maintaining limits on cigarettes brought back from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and some countries are maintaining limits on cigarettes brought back from Bulgaria and Romania.

These import limits are:

To travellers coming from	Limits	Countries maintaining limits
	(excise duty has to be paid for quantities exceeding these limits)
Bulgaria	200 cigarettes	Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Sweden and the United Kingdom
Estonia	200 cigarettes 250g tobacco for rolling cigarettes	Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Sweden and the United Kingdom
Latvia	200 cigarettes	Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Sweden and the United Kingdom
Lithuania	200 cigarettes	Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Sweden and the United Kingdom
Romania	200 cigarettes	Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Sweden and the United Kingdom

VAT

When you shop in another EU country, VAT and excise are included in the price you pay and, since these vary from country to country, you may want to take advantage of some interesting price differences.

”Duty-free" shopping, which you might see advertised in airport shops for example, does not exist when you travel between EU countries because the entire EU is one single market and you can instead profit from the freedom to buy whatever you want and take advantage of the diversity of choice, taste, taxes and prices.

The table below shows the standard and reduced rates of VAT applied in the EU as at January 2009. A more comprehensive list of VAT rates and the goods and services to which they are applied is also available.

Country		Reduced rate of VAT	Standard rate of VAT
	Austria	10	20
	Belgium	6/12	21
	Bulgaria	7	20
	Cyprus	5/8	15
	Czech Republic	9	19
	Germany	7	19
	Denmark	-	25
	Spain	7	16
	Estonia	5	18
	France	5.5	19.6
	Finland	8/17	22
	United Kingdom	5	15
	Greece	9	19
	Hungary	5	20
	Italy	10	20
	Ireland	13.5	21.5
	Luxembourg	6/12	15
	Lithuania	5/9	19
	Latvia	10	21
	Malta	5	18
	The Netherlands	6	19
	Portugal	5/12	20
	Poland	7	22
	Romania	9	19
	Sweden	6/12	25
	Slovakia	10	19
	Slovenia	8.5	20

Cars

If you buy a new car, defined as one with less than 6 000 km on the clock or within six months of registration, you must pay VAT when registering it in your country of residence at the rate of VAT applied there. Some countries apply a tax on registration in addition to VAT.

The Commission produces an annual report on car prices in the EU where you can compare the prices in different countries of 86 models. A Certificate of Conformity which must now be given by the manufacturer to the purchaser will make registration formalities much easier when buying a new car in any EU country.

Coming from outside

If you enter the EU from outside, you can bring with you goods free of VAT and excise duties for personal use within the limits set out below. The same applies if you come from the Canary Islands, the Channel Islands, Gibraltar or other territories where EU rules on VAT and excise do not apply.

Alcoholic drinks

• 1 litre of spirits over 22 % vol. or
• 2 litres of fortified or sparkling wine
• 4 litres of still wine
• 16 litres of beer

Tobacco products

There is a higher or lower limit depending on the country you are visiting and a country may choose to only apply the lower limits to land and sea travellers

Higher limit	Lower limit
200 cigarettes or	40 cigarettes or
100 cigarillos or	20 cigarillos or
50 cigars or	10 cigars or
250 g tobacco	50 g tobacco

Other goods including perfume

Up to a value of € 300 per traveller or € 430 for travellers by air and sea. Some EU countries apply a lower limit of € 150 for travellers under 15.

VAT export refund scheme

Visitors from outside the EU are entitled to a VAT refund on goods they have bought during their stay in the EU if the goods are shown to customs on departure within three months of their purchase together with the VAT refund documents. These are normally prepared by the seller although, as the scheme is voluntary, not all merchants participate. Some countries set a minimum value of purchases to qualify for a refund.

Meat, dairy and other animal products

There are no general restrictions on carrying any of these products if you are travelling within the EU since all EU countries have to respect strict common veterinary standards. The same applies if you are travelling from Andorra, Liechtenstein, Norway, San Marino or Switzerland. However, some restrictions may apply under specific circumstances, such as localised animal disease outbreaks.

If you are arriving in the EU from other countries not mentioned above, you cannot bring with you any meat, milk or their products without official veterinary documentation. This is to prevent introducing any serious animal diseases into the EU. You are, however, allowed to bring in powdered infant milk, infant food and foods required for medical reasons with certain provisos. You are also allowed to bring in limited quantities, for personal consumtion, of other animal products including fishery products, snails and honey. Travellers arriving from Croatia, the Faeroe Islands, Greenland and Iceland may bring small quantities of meat and dairy products for personal consumption.

More information about bringing meat and dairy products and other animal products into the EU.

Shopping hours

Shopping hours vary from country to country and from region to region. In big cities or tourist areas, shops often remain open later and may be open on Sundays. In more remote regions, shops may be shut for a lunch hour or for one weekday and some countries have a longer siesta closing time in the middle of the day. In a number of countries shops are closed on Saturday afternoons and Sundays.

 

Consumer protection

As a consumer, you are protected by basic laws no matter where you are in the EU:

• You can be assured of the highest food safety standards because of strict laws on the production, processing, use of colourings and additives, and the selling of food.
• EU laws on food labelling enable you to check what you are buying. Full details must be given of ingredients, including genetically modified ingredients, colourings, preservatives, sweeteners and other chemical additives. There are regulations about what products can be called ‘organic’ and rules on the use of nutrition and health claims on foods. You can also look for quality foods which have logos indicating a Protected Designation of Origin, a Protected Geographical Indication or a Traditional Speciality Guaranteed.
• The unit price of products – the price per kilo or per litre – must be given by supermarkets to make it easier to compare prices.
• Cosmetic products have to list ingredients and indicate how long they can be used after opening. Look out for the open jar symbol. Sunscreen products should now have clearer labelling, including a standardised indication of UVA protection, standardised terms for describing levels of protection and no misleading terms such as “total protection”.
• Misleading advertising is prohibited and EU law offers protection on package holidays and timeshare property schemes as well as against unfair contract terms or aggressive sales practices. Occasional EU “sweeps” or coordinated EU-wide investigations are carried out to check for compliance with consumer protection laws. Recent targets have been websites selling airline tickets and websites offering mobile phone services such as ring tones and wallpapers.
• You can check your rights in relation to shopping online or surfing the web on the eYouGuide website.

Consumer advice

European Consumer Centres give practical information on consumer rights as well as advice and assistance with complaints or resolution of disputes. There are centres in all 27 EU countries and in Iceland and Norway.

More information about buying goods and services in other countries in Europe.