Europe 'booze cruises' to continue
Pastor Dale Morgan
Europe 'booze cruises' to continue*
POSTED: 1011 GMT (1811 HKT), November 23, 2006
LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) -- Europe's "booze cruises" were saved on Thursday
when the top European Union court ruled that individuals must pay
domestic customs duty if they order alcohol in another EU state and have
it delivered home.
The ruling came as a relief to cash-conscious finance ministries in
about nine EU countries with high excise duties, which had feared a
potential loss of revenue from the key test case brought by a club of
Dutch wine lovers.
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) upheld a 1992 EU law that duty is
charged in the EU state where goods are bought for personal use -- but
only if transported by the purchaser.
"The court points out that, in order for products to be exempt from
excise duty in the state of importation, the (EU) directive requires
that those products be intended for the personal use of the private
individual who has acquired them and that it therefore excludes products
acquired by a private individual for the use of other private
individuals," it said.
"Furthermore, the products in question must be transported personally by
the private individual who purchased them."
That means Britons, Danes, Swedes and Finns will have to continue to
sail or drive to neighboring countries with cheaper alcohol to benefit
from the lower duty on personal imports.
The court said that if a group was importing the wine, the home country
duty should be paid, minus the duty paid in the country where the wine
was bought.
Hordes of British travelers hop on to ferries to France each year to
stock up on beer and wine with lower duty, saving themselves millions of
euros.
Britain expects to collect 16 billion pounds ($30.5 billion) in duties
from domestic tobacco and alcohol sales this financial year.
The ECJ decision went partially against the opinion of the court's
adviser, who had suggested individuals be allowed to buy alcohol in
another country, have it delivered to their home and pay the duty only
of the country where the alcohol was bought.