duty free allowance going through famagusta border into the south

eve76


Joined: 15/07/2009
Posts: 4

Message Posted:
01/10/2011 12:42

Just taken our son and his family from the north into the south to Larnaca airport, and was stopped at the greek side, where we were told that the cigarette allowance was 40 per person. Having done this many times before, and were told in May that the allowance was 1 litre of spirits, and 200 cigarettes, have the rules changed on this?

Harold2555



Joined: 19/04/2008
Posts: 1139

Message Posted:
01/10/2011 12:44

No the rules have always been 40 Cigarettes.



Harold

mmmmmm



Joined: 19/12/2008
Posts: 8398

Message Posted:
01/10/2011 12:52

"Persons shall cross the line only at the crossing points mentioned in paragraph 5 (except c and d) and the goods which hold or contained in their personal luggage may be exempt from turnover tax and excise duty as well as from other duties provided that:



A. Goods have no commercial character and their total value does not exceed €260 per person;

B. The quantitative limits for exemptions shall be 40 cigarettes and 1 litre of spirits for personal consumption. This exemption shall not be granted to persons crossing the Line under 17 years of age. "



http://www.mof.gov.cy/mof/customs/customs.nsf/All/05AEEF243C9BFC8BC22572BF002D0A28?OpenDocument

eve76


Joined: 15/07/2009
Posts: 4

Message Posted:
01/10/2011 19:05

Thanks for clearing that up, must have misunderstood what the border officer said in May.

mmmmmm



Joined: 19/12/2008
Posts: 8398

Message Posted:
01/10/2011 19:08

He wasn't a 'border' officer.. he was a Customs official carrying out the EU's requirement, at the "first available point where the govt retain effective control"...



'Border' is much shorter, I know.. ;)

newscoop


Joined: 23/12/2007
Posts: 2197

Message Posted:
01/10/2011 20:35

Actually he was employed by the SBA who do the dirty for the ROC.

mmmmmm



Joined: 19/12/2008
Posts: 8398

Message Posted:
01/10/2011 20:46

Actually, the RoC/ SBA are 'doing the dirty' for the EU ...

tomsteel


Joined: 22/06/2009
Posts: 482

Message Posted:
01/10/2011 22:59

The SBA officials encountered at the ESBA crossings, be they British, TC or GC work for HM Revenue & Excise, not RoC. Prosecution action is dealt with as per UK law. Hope this clarifies msg 6.

mmmmmm



Joined: 19/12/2008
Posts: 8398

Message Posted:
02/10/2011 01:04

?? re msg 8



WHAAAT?



I beg to differ, Tomsteel



1/ "SBA Customs as at 2006 has a complement of 49 personnel, comprising locally recruited Greek and Turkish Cypriots, and a small number of UK customs officers (on loan from HM Revenue and Customs)."



The locals are paid for from a different budgetary source.



2/ They are following EU prescribed rules re Customs



"These crossing points are manned 24 hours a day every day of the year to regulate the movement of both goods and persons in accordance with EU regulations."



3/ Courts:



"The Laws of the Sovereign Base Areas are kept as far as possible the same laws of the republic of Cyprus."



http://www.sba.mod.uk/customs.htm

tomsteel


Joined: 22/06/2009
Posts: 482

Message Posted:
02/10/2011 08:58

msg 9. I do not disagree with your general point. My thrust is, the fact they are not RoC employees - well it was the case when I worked in the ESBA and had daily dealing with them due to UK/USA import of goods for use by the MoD. The SBA prosecutions were to UK laws, involving UK-trained legal personnel and the fines imposed went to the SBA, not RoC. I never heard of any imprisonments, but there is a SBA prison there. Hey ho - enough, as this still does not alter the personal allowance fact of 40 fags, 1 litre of booze, no dodgy watches/ dvds etc.

colly


Joined: 31/07/2008
Posts: 297

Message Posted:
02/10/2011 13:28

Are they following EU prescribed rules with only 40 cigarettes or is the allowance into the u.k. different to other countries? We can of course take 200 back to the uk from non EU countries.

tomsteel


Joined: 22/06/2009
Posts: 482

Message Posted:
02/10/2011 14:43

I think the point is the RoC/TRNC are not EU neighbours and do not have a reciprocal agreement on what can be taken for personal use and you may not be going back to UK. The RoC Government stipulate and the SBA, according to their MoU with the RoC, enforce what passes through the SBAs from the TRNC at their crossings. At all of the crossings south - north, it is, of course, the TRNC authorities checking according to Mr Talat's (sic) dictates of the time. There are even different monetary totals north-south, south-north. Confusion could reign. The fact is the RoC only allow 40 fags via TRNC.

trickydicky


Joined: 10/10/2011
Posts: 2

Message Posted:
10/10/2011 19:21

We went through at Pergamos this afternoon and SBA Customs said that meat from the north was not permitted. Never encountered this restriction before, either when crossing or when searching documents. Anyone had a similar experience or was the SBA guy just having a bad afternoon?

Geoff


Joined: 25/06/2008
Posts: 1370

Message Posted:
11/10/2011 09:19

Yep, meat now banned, along with all dairy products. But why would you weant to take meat into the south?

No problems (yet!) in the other direction, we buy our meat just over the border in the SBA at Litsas Supermarket.

really cheap compared to prices here.

Geoff

Famagusta City