What can we bring in the future?

So today 13/07/20 Boris and crew publish 100 pages of regulations (determined to take back control!) outlining life after transition. Up to then you can more or less go to B&Q or Tesco load the trailer (to renovate the second home) or stock the food cupboard (to get items but not many) that as an expat you miss. Organising your pet might need 4 months of planning. So how will this be different from January…would be interested to know of already known requirements or possibilities or speculation …from both UK and EU perspective

Who knows? You could be liable to import duty, as we are now on imports from outside the EU. Depends on what sort of deal (or none) the government can get.
If I were a UK resident with a holiday home in France, I wouldn’t be making any travel plans for the early part of 2021. Wait and see what happens!
Excellent quality building materials and food are available in France! :grin: :grin: :grin:

In fact excellent just about everything is available in France…

1 Like

One of my colleagues had a holiday home in Cyprus before they joined the EU. They often told me about how they had to pay duty on all the household items that they took over there. Perhaps now the ‘nothing is going to change, they need our money, people will begin to see that life isn’t going to be quite that simple.

Pretty clear that you will have to pay duties and VAT - I can’t see a reason the cut-off for personal goods brought with you would be different from current 3rd nation citizens (290€ I think, per person). Lower limits for mail order/online orders.

Going the other way the (approx) £2.70 duty per bottle of wine is going to cramp some styles (I suspect that the depots de vin near ports might switch to selling duty free for export if they can but normal supermarkets are not going to sell you booze without duty & VAT).

1 Like

Yes, but trying to buy in bulk or get any type of discount is impossible if you intend and are capable of doing things themselves.
For example, we wanted 250 sq m of engineered oak flooring and we were refused any type of discount straight from the factory.
Fortunately we had had exactly what we wanted in our home in UK and rang our supplier to see if we could get them to send it to us. They said that was stupid and put us in touch with their supplier in France and we came to an arrangement. He was a Brit and extremely helpful.
Everyone was happy, except Jim who had to lay it all.

Does that suggest we will have to pay French equivalents of Vat and go to the hasskrmof reclaiming from HRMC?
And yes products are good here but often way more expensive even though we have Mr Bricolage, Brico Cash, Brico Depot and Brico Mart all competing in the area.
Not so true with garden centres here in Brittany, only Magasin Vert group and no competion so very very expensive and no price competition.

Unless special arrangements are made then surely it would be the same as bringing in anything from outside the EU? Which in theory is anything over 150€, as long as not stuff like cigarettes which have lower limits.

For the most part, it’s the price French people are willing to pay to live in a society where people who work all week don’t have to call in at a food bank on their way home.
Garden centres sell luxury products and many people must be willing to pay their prices. But you can have a perfectly nice garden with seeds from the supermarket, plants from the market and cuttings from friends.
The only real racket here is the people who sell eyeglasses. I am constantly seeing advertisements offering 100€ “discount” which is about twice as much as I ever pay for progressive prescription lenses and frame. On that basis, they should be paying me!

Looks as though the UK is set to increase duty free allowances for individual travellers from 1st Jan - at least for alcohol.

The new allowances are:

  • 42 litres of beer
  • 18 litres of still wine
  • 4 litres of spirits OR 9 litres of sparkling wine, fortified wine or any alcoholic beverage less than 22% ABV

Tobacco stays at 200cigs or equivalent & goods remain at £390.

To a certain extent welcome, but as per my previous comment I wonder where one will buy those amounts - I guess one might just be able to physically carry 42l of beer and 24 bottles of wine on the ferry but it would be quite challenging for many.

Which leaves buying it duty paid au supermarché at which point it isn’t exactly a gain.

I suppose the ferry industry has been lobbying - but I also suspect that this is about not overwhelming Customs having to charge everyone who brings a crate of Beaujolais back.