Duty-free into and around the EU: two different rulebooks

Between member states the principle is free movement for personal use; what exists are guideline values above which customs may question whether goods are commercial — and Your Europe publishes the floor those guidelines cannot go below: Cigarettes 800 · cigarillos 400 · cigars 200 · tobacco 1 kg · spirits 10 litres · fortified wine 20 litres · wine 90 litres (of which 60 sparkling) · beer 110 litres. Countries may probe above these; below them, personal use is presumed.

The values are indicative by design — the page's own warning — so the destination country's customs figures are the ones to check when hauling a cellar across a border.

Source: Your Europe, alcohol, tobacco and cash — guideline values, read 6 September 2026.

Crossing into the EU from a third country flips the regime to genuine allowances. Tobacco runs two tiers the entry country chooses between: higher — 200 cigarettes or 100 cigarillos or 50 cigars or 250 g tobacco; lower — 40 cigarettes or 20 cigarillos or 10 cigars or 50 g, with combinations allowed but the total capped. Alcohol runs its own tiered structure, and other goods fall under per-country monetary thresholds — the classic air/land split — which the destination's customs authority publishes; above them, declare and pay.

For arriving movers, remember the separate machinery for belongings: household goods ride the transfer-of-residence relief, not the tourist allowances — a different and far more generous rulebook with its own conditions.

Allowances are afternoon problems; the move's real files run on longer clocks and published rules:

Print the moving checklist