Duty Free in Italy

[vikki67]

Hi Folks.I wondered if ayone can tell me what if any duty free I'm allowed to bring back from Venice.Can I buy it at Marco Polo airport to bring back to Britain or do I need to buy it in the town itself.

Thanks in anticipation Vikki

[NORMANTHEDOG]

There is NO duty free anymore in EEC countries,and italy is in the EEC

[paddy_36]

NORMANTHEDOG is a bit behind the times... the EEC is now the EU!

[casaespana]

You can bring back virtually as much as you like as long as its for your own use or gifts for friends etc. The duty is paid in the country origon e.g. Italy. Best to shop around for bargains as airports are usually the most expensive places to buy from.

[Buenchico]

(2-part post):

Just to 'tidy up' the previous answers:

There's a difference between 'duty-free' and 'duty-paid' goods. There used to be a 'duty-free' allowance which permitted you to bring in a very limited number of goods, from any overseas country, without paying duty or VAT. This allowance still exists for travellers arriving from countries outside of the European Union but it's long been abolished for travellers arriving from within the EU.

When you enter the UK from another EU country, you're now allowed to bring in an ***unlimited quantity of goods without paying duty or VAT. This is because you will have already paid tax and duty (at the prevailing local rate) when you purchased the items. This will apply wherever you've bought the goods abroad,either in the town or in the airport. (The only word of caution here is that, if you do see an outlet offering 'duty-free' goods at a foreign airport within the EU, you shouldn't purchase from there. A well-regulated airport will make sure that this facility is only available to passengers travelling to/from places outside of the EU but, if you did find yourself able to purchase items from one of these outlets, you'd have to pay duty and VAT on arrival in the UK).

[Buenchico]

*** Now here's the reason for those asterisks, above: As Casaespana has indicated, you're only entitled to bring in an unlimited amount of goods if they're for your personal use. The definition of 'personal use' includes gifts to other people but not items which are to be sold or exchanged. HM Revenue & Customs are obviously watching out for people who abuse this entitlement. They've set out guidelines for how much you can bring in before they start to ask questions. As you're travelling by plane the limits on booze won't affect you. (You'd need to worry about excess baggage charges well before you could be in a position to trouble the Customs officers!). If you intend to bring back tobacco, the guideline maximum figure is 3200 cigarettes (i.e. 16 packs of 200). It's worth noting, however, that Customs officers might get suspicious if you've got 16 packs of different brands. (i.e. It seems unlikely that anyone bringing in cigarettes solely for their own use would choose to have as many different brands!). HMRC's guideline figures can be found here:
http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channels PortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageTravel _ShowContent&id=HMCE_PROD_010221&propertyType=do cument

Chris

[goldfish1]

A word of warning. Last year we were flying back from Naples and had been planning to buy a load of ciggies (for personal use, of course) but we got to the airport to discover that no tobacco products were sold at the airport! If you're buying cigarettes, maybe you should buy them before you get to the airport. There really cheap anyway!

[Buenchico]

Following on from what Goldfish1 has written:

Throughout the EU, it's nearly always cheaper to buy 'in town' than at the airport. If, however, you don't want to carry things around with you, you can make the following purchases in the departure area at Marco Polo airport:
Tobacco - From 'Hub' newsagency, 0600-2000
Wine (but not spirits) - From 'La Bottega dei Sapori de Canto wine bar', 0600-2100.

Source:
http://www.veniceairport.it/save/aerostazione/map.jsp?

Chris