DUTY FREE ? how do they know !!

[400+bhp]

often wondered... we know our allowance say from spain for eg allowed 3200 cigs or tobac equive.... but if its canaries its hell of a lot less or even gibralter is lot less and caribbean lot less.. but how on earth do customs know where you purchased the items.. we could have flown to say one of the costas then cruised to canaries or gibralter then back to costas with bag of goodies and back home.. are we missing something or is it purely an easy check on the bar codes.. just like to know for own interest..not planning a scam regards all

[eldar]

400+bhp said:

often wondered... we know our allowance say from spain for eg allowed 3200 cigs or tobac equive.... but if its canaries its hell of a lot less or even gibralter is lot less and caribbean lot less.. but how on earth do customs know where you purchased the items.. we could have flown to say one of the costas then cruised to canaries or gibralter then back to costas with bag of goodies and back home.. are we missing something or is it purely an easy check on the bar codes.. just like to know for own interest..not planning a scam regards all

They check when you buy them at duty frees, they know where aircraft have just landed from, and the packaging is different.

Its customs, they aren't daft

[400+bhp]

have not bought from duty free shop as such but private shops for want of better word and plane can land from say malage but i may have been elsewhere on travels ie gibralta and back to malaga on a cruise ship 4 example cant see any visual packing difference thats what made me wonder hey ho

[Deva Link]

400+bhp said:

we could have flown to say one of the costas then cruised to canaries or gibralter then back to costas with bag of goodies and back home.. are we missing something or is it purely an easy check on the bar codes.. just like to know for own interest..not planning a scam regards all

You can't (legally) do what you describe - if you're passing through a country as part of your journey then you're OK for 24hrs but beyond that the allowances for going in and out are separate.

How would they know: They'd ask for the receipt. Guess what happens if you can't produce it?

[deeen]

If you buy at a local shop in a foreign country, it's not duty-free, you have paid tax in that country.

[condor]

There's a country code on the barcode - look at any bottle of booze you've bought from the UK and the first number will be a 5

[Deva Link]

condor said:

There's a country code on the barcode - look at any bottle of booze you've bought from the UK and the first number will be a 5

That tells you country of manufacture. Although the definition of manufacture can be a bit random.

[condor]

Deva Link said:

condor said:

There's a country code on the barcode - look at any bottle of booze you've bought from the UK and the first number will be a 5

That tells you country of manufacture. Although the definition of manufacture can be a bit random.

I'm not too sure about that - 5 must mean parts of Europe as I have French and Spanish wines with the first number 5, however also have an Italian chianti with an 8.
South Africa seems to have a 6 and Australia a 9.
It's of interest because I hadn't really bothered with barcode labelling before - am interested if you can give more info though

[Deva Link]

condor said:

Deva Link said:

condor said:

There's a country code on the barcode - look at any bottle of booze you've bought from the UK and the first number will be a 5

That tells you country of manufacture. Although the definition of manufacture can be a bit random.

I'm not too sure about that - 5 must mean parts of Europe as I have French and Spanish wines with the first number 5, however also have an Italian chianti with an 8.
South Africa seems to have a 6 and Australia a 9.
It's of interest because I hadn't really bothered with barcode labelling before - am interested if you can give more info though

50 is UK.

[condor]

Right Just had a check ...so the first number of the barcode, which then has a space after it...is actually needing the next number which starts a few mms away from it to join it up together...that's very clever.
Thanks

[400+bhp]

Deva Link said:

400+bhp said:

we could have flown to say one of the costas then cruised to canaries or gibralter then back to costas with bag of goodies and back home.. are we missing something or is it purely an easy check on the bar codes.. just like to know for own interest..not planning a scam regards all

You can't (legally) do what you describe - if you're passing through a country as part of your journey then you're OK for 24hrs but beyond that the allowances for going in and out are separate.

How would they know: They'd ask for the receipt. Guess what happens if you can't produce it?

getting confused are you saying if we start in spain then pop over to canaries for under the 24hrs we are still in spains allowance ??? ta again

[Deva Link]

400+bhp said:

Deva Link said:

400+bhp said:

we could have flown to say one of the costas then cruised to canaries or gibralter then back to costas with bag of goodies and back home.. are we missing something or is it purely an easy check on the bar codes.. just like to know for own interest..not planning a scam regards all

You can't (legally) do what you describe - if you're passing through a country as part of your journey then you're OK for 24hrs but beyond that the allowances for going in and out are separate.

How would they know: They'd ask for the receipt. Guess what happens if you can't produce it?

getting confused are you saying if we start in spain then pop over to canaries for under the 24hrs we are still in spains allowance ??? ta again

I'm not totally sure to be honest. Anyway in that specific example Spain is in the EU so if you bought duty free to take to the Canaries you'd be wrong to bring it back into Spain. If you bought duty free in the Canaries then you could bring back to Spain whatever the allowance is.

The 24hr thing is mainly a security issue (I don't know if there's a Customes implication as well).
In the example above, say you bought duty free in the Canaries but flew back via Spain. When the liquids limit was first applied you'd have had your duty free taken off you at security in Spain. The EU changed that to allow transit passengers to carry DF through for 24hrs after purchase.

(I'm thinking liquids ie alcohol and perfume - I never buy fags).

Edited by Deva Link on Tuesday 1st September 09:25