The permitted limit for carrying tobacco products of maximum 1 carton of 200 cigarettes for personal use by travellers across borders within the EU was lifted on the 29th of March, leaving it up to customs authorities in each country to determine what quantity constitutes personal use and what is the existing difference between commercial use or smuggling.
A previous EU directive stipulated that a maximum permitted limit for less than 800 cigarettes or 4 cartons from EU member states could not be set. Authorities in many regions are predicting that lifting the maximum travel allowance for 1 carton for personal use and setting it autonomously by customs authorities will facilitate the fight against cross-border smuggling.
The problem is particularly topical in France, where tobacco has been taxed excessively and disproportionately, where a pack of cigarettes costs more than ten euros and traders near the French border with neighbouring countries will face unfair competition since it was introduced in 2017 by then-Health Minister Agnes Bizin. As a result, a box costs half the price in Spain as it costs on the domestic French market, with French retailers and tobacconists protesting near the border at the new proposed measures in February, where one of them said: “It’s the end of us – We have lost half our customers.”
Negative reactions from France, compared to the greater comfort and ease of consumers and travellers to carry more tobacco products along with their savings, also originated from health organizations. The president of Paris Smoke-Free said that “With this change, Europe and the Council of State have decided that health isn’t really that important, but what is important is the freedom of the market. It is completely stupid from a health perspective and from an economic point of view, because cancer and heart attacks cost the social security system a lot of money. Tobacco is the leading cause of avoidable death. [Tobacco] should not be subject to the laws of the market. It’s like telling consumers to go and buy their cigarettes in a country where they are cheaper. You can now get lung cancer or a heart attack for €7 a day instead of €12.”.
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