New Rules To Allow Booze Cruises to the Doorstep

4.33.17pm BST (GMT +0100) Mon 24th May 2004

The European Commission has proposed an overhaul of the rules on cross-channel shopping to make it easier for people in the UK to buy alcohol from countries where it is cheaper.

The current rules, dating from 1992, will be replaced, allowing buyers to use friends or courier firms to transport their consignment instead of having to transport it themselves. The Commission will also abolish the indicative quantities to which customs authorities refer when deciding whether goods are for personal or commercial use. UK officials have often been criticised for taking these indications too seriously and needlessly penalising shoppers.

The Lib Dem Euro-MP, Bill Newton Dunn, welcomed the move as making it easier for UK shoppers to take advantage of the EU's internal market: "The new rules are particularly good news for the British public, who find it geographically more difficult to 'hop across the border' and who face particularly high levels of tax on alcohol. With the increasing use of the Internet, the new rules will open up the possibility of 'booze cruises' to the doorstep.

"It will also help to end the harassment faced by many East Midlands constituents at the UK's borders when they are merely exercising their right as EU consumers to buy goods where they are cheapest."

Under the present rules buyers must physically transport the goods themselves. As long as the seller does not transport the alcohol, the new Directive will allow greater freedom to arrange delivery from abroad.

The draft Directive will go to the European Parliament for its opinion before going to the Council of Ministers, who will make the final decision.