Poland is the EU member state, which means that, for instance, a person who buys some electronic equipment during his/her holiday in Spain, he/she is allowed to bring it to Poland, with no legal formalities. It is very similar to the case of buying something on-line. The equipment that was bought, let's say in an English e-store, is then sent to Poland duty free. But what about the merchandise that was bought in those countries, that are not the EU member states?
For instance, customs duty will have to be paid for a TV that was manufactured in Japan, in the moment of its crossing the EU border for the first time. That mechanism obviously operates both ways, meaning that customs duty will have to be paid for the goods that are shipped out of the EU. Poland borders with three non-EU member states. That means that the citizens of Belarus, Ukraine and Russia and citizens of other countries outside the Union must be mindful not only of the passports, but also that the goods they bring with them may be liable to duty.
Similar regulations apply to a citizen of Belarus, who crosses Polish borders, as well as a citizen of Russia who gets to Berlin by plane. The situation is like that, because Poland, Germany and 25 other countries, are the EU member states and the EU trade policy applies to all those countries. There are no limitations concerning the internal trade in the EU, but there are some regulations concerning third parties.
The common market does not however mean, that the EU is closed for third-party countries. The knowledge of the basic regulations will allow you to cross the border without any additional obstacles.
The personal luggage and the exemption from custom duties
The law provides for the necessity of paying customs duty, VAT, and sometimes also excise tax, in case of many items shipped over the border. Fortunately, one can count on the exemption from charges, providing he/she carries a small amount of goods. Hence, crossing a border and carrying one laptop, should not be a problem. On the other hand, one would have to pay duty, if he wanted to bring 20 laptops.
Firstly, we can count on relatively big exemption from custom duties on the items carried in our personal luggage, which is 300 EUR in case of land transport and 430 EUR in case of air transport or shipping. Another good news is the fact that not everything adds to that sum. In case of crossing the border by car, the customs officer will not be interested in the fuel from the tank of the car. Additionally, you can carry 10 extra litres of petrol, in a petrol can. Despite the fact that the values of the tobacco and alcoholic beverages also do not add to the sum, there are specific restrictions on how much of them a one person can bring, which is illustrated in the table. Those limitations are sums for every listed kind of tobacco and alcoholic beverage.
It means, that if a person coming to Poland by car has 40 cigarettes, he/she may not have even a one more cigar. However, if a person has 20 cigarettes, the same person may also bring 5 cigars. An additional limitation is the one concerning the age. A person aged 17 or less, may not bring any tobacco nor alcoholic beverages.
Table 1: How many cigarettes and how much tobacco is permitted?
| A kind of tobacco |
Air transport or shipping |
Land transport |
|
Cigarettes |
200 items |
40 items |
|
Cigars (weighing not more than 3 grams a piece) |
100 items |
20 items |
|
Cigars |
50 items |
10 items |
|
Tobacco |
250 grams (1/4 a kilogram) |
50 grams |
Table 1: How much alcoholic beverages is permitted?
| A kind of a beverage |
Any kind transport |
The citizens of the border zone |
|
A beverage containing over 22% of the pure alcohol, uncontaminated ethyl alcohol containing 80%, or more, of pure alcohol |
1 litre |
0.5 litre |
|
alcoholic beverages containing up to 22% of pure alcohol |
2 litres |
0.5 litre |
|
non-sparkling wines |
4 litres |
0.5 litre |
|
Beer |
16 litres |
2 litres |
