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Customs relaxes the tobacco guidelines
Page 12
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• by Miles Brignall International drivers who smoke can sleep a little easier in their cabs this week after Customs announced changes in the way it will deal with people importing tobacco from the Continent for personal consumption.
Last week the government effectively conceded that Customs officers had been treating UK residents unfairly when they return from Europe with alcohol and tobacco for their own use.
In their bid to try to reduce smuggling, officers had adopted an aggressive policy that most people felt bordered on intimidation. Some truck drivers had their vehicles seized after returning from booze cruises or after working abroad. Customs officers assumed they were smugglers unless they could prove that the goods were for personal consumption.
That has now changed and drivers can bring back up to 3,200 cigarettes (equivalent to six months' supply for the average smoker) and up to 3kg of rolling tobacco, as long as it is for their personal use.
HM CU AND
Customs officers will still seize smaller quantities if "other information satisfies them that the goods are for resale". But the new regulations mean people with up to the legal limit will no longer have to prove the goods are for their own use.
Instead Customs will need reason to believe that goods are for "a commercial purpose"—and they will have to follow guidelines to justify this view. There will also be a step-by-step guide to the appeals process, and a review of its effectiveness.
• More than eight million cigarettes worth Vint' were found last week when Customs officers searched a French artic in Trafford Park, Manchester The 8.4 million Sovereign cigarettes were concealed in the semitrailer behind boxes of lamps. The tax evaded on the cigarettes amounts to around £1.5m.
The driver a French national, was arrested and Customs are continuing their investigations.
Rob Hastings-Trew. Customs spokesman for Northern England. says 80% of the cigarettes smuggled into this country are hidden in commercial vehicles.
STOMS EXCISE