- Persons under the age of 18 are not allowed to bring in alcoholic beverages, and persons under the age of 20 are only allowed to bring in light alcoholic beverages.
-
Persons under the age of 18 are not allowed to bring in tobacco products or nicotine-containing liquids.
For the purposes of the Alcohol Act,
- alcoholic substance means a substance or product which contains more than 1.2 percentage by volume ethyl alcohol
- alcoholic beverage means an alcoholic substance intended for consumption as beverage which contains a maximum of 80 percentage by volume ethyl alcohol
- mild alcoholic beverage means an alcoholic beverage which contains a maximum of 22 percentage by volume ethyl alcohol
- strong alcoholic beverage means an alcoholic beverage which contains more than 22 percentage by volume ethyl alcohol
- spirits means ethyl alcohol or an aqueous solution of ethyl alcohol where the proportion of ethyl alcohol exceeds 80 percentage by volume
- strongly denatured spirits means spirits unfit for human consumption in accordance with Article 27(1a) of Council Directive 92/83/EEC on the harmonization of the structures of excise duties on alcohol and alcoholic beverages
- slightly denatured spirits means spirits unfit for human consumption in accordance with Article 27(1ba) of the above-mentioned Directive
- alcoholic preparation means an alcoholic substance which is not an alcoholic beverage or spirit and which can be denatured.
Products classified as being for personal use, are products that include taxes and which the passenger has carried in themselves from another EU Member State for their own personal use. Personal use means the passenger’s personal use of the goods as well as its use by his or her family, or a gift. Products handed over in return for any means of compensation are considered commercial imports.
For example, when a cousin of the bride arrives as a wedding guest, they cannot bring in alcohol for their cousin’s wedding and alcohol brought in cannot be served as thanks to volunteers helping out at the wedding; neither can a person bring in alcohol to their friends.
As a rule, family is considered to include all persons living at the same address and in the same household. However, if relatives in direct lineage (parents, children, grandparents) import alcohol for a family celebration (e.g. a wedding, a birthday, some other significant occasion) without compensation as a gift, this kind of import of alcohol is also considered import for personal use even if the relatives do not live at the same address and are not part of the same household.
Read more: Bringing alcohol from your trip
For passenger imported alcohol to be seen as non-commercial import for personal use as a tax-free gift, it must fulfil certain gift criteria. The gift must always be gratuitous and random. If the importer of the alcohol receives either direct or indirect remuneration of any kind, it is not a question of a gift, rather the delivery of the alcohol is commercial.
The concept of a gift is also its element of surprise, thus delivering alcohol regularly, even if it is gratuitous, cannot be considered a gift. The gift cannot be especially chosen by the recipient, nor can it be given for representation purposes or as advertising. A gift can only be given to a private person.
The gift does not have to be given in connection with a special day. Giving the gift can be based on some kind of personal relationship between the giver and recipient.
A gift does not mean exactly the same thing as gratuitous delivery. Therefore, in situations where a passenger brings in a large quantity of alcohol and delivers all or a large portion of the alcohol to an unspecified group of private persons (e.g. work colleagues, members of an association, neighbours) to be used freely, the gratuitous delivery of the alcohol does not fill the criteria of a gift.
Read more: Alcohol in gift consignments
The law uses the term “reasonably prove”. In Customs' instructions the terms used are “explanation” or “account”.
In practice, when the passenger arrives in the country with their alcohol, they do not have to do anything, unless the customs officer specifically asks.
But if, at the time of entry into the country, the customs officer asks what the alcohol that exceeds the guideline limits will be used for, then a free-form oral explanation or report is usually enough. The customs officer may ask more specific questions in response to the passenger’s explanation or report. The quantity and quality of the products may be checked as well as the passenger’s ID and their contact information. No written material will have to be presented or written up, but that does not prevent the passenger from presenting such material. In most cases, the discussion with the customs officer and verification of the quantity brought into the country is sufficient.
In some instances, the passenger might be required to present additional information in written form; adhering to the instructions in the request for additional information.
Please have a look at the frequently asked questions.
If you have a question about the arrival of parcels, its contents or the handling fee, please contact Posti.