Questions frequently asked by private persons

This is our FAQ page.

You can browse the most popular topics or write your question in the field below.

Ordering goods online

Your parcel may be stuck due to Posti’s handling fee. Please visit the Posti website and check.

Declare the consignment in the Import Declaration Service for private persons. The most convenient way to clear it is through online clearance: Customs clearance of a consignment after delivery

No. A private person is not allowed to obtain or receive by mail, as a goods shipment or by any other means from outside Finland tobacco products, electronic cigarettes or nicotine liquids ordered from a trader by means of distance communication.

Read more: Ordering tobacco products online

 

 

If you do not know or you cannot find out the contents of the postal consignment even from its sender, you can make a forwarding agreement with Posti, in which case Posti takes care of the customs clearance. Posti’s service is subject to a charge.  You can contact Posti on 020 451 5900 or huolinta(at)posti.com.

Please note that Customs will not find out the contents of consignments at the request of customers.

Read more: Posti, Customs and online purchases

More questions about ordering goods online

Import Declaration for private persons

If you have cleared your consignment in the Import Declaration Service for private persons after 11 February 2020, the customs decision is available for the next 90 days on the page My declarations. After this, you can only get them from the Customs archive.

If you have cleared your consignment before 11 February 2020, you can find your customs clearance by signing in to the Import Declaration Service (in Finnish and Swedish). If a transport company or a forwarding company has cleared your consignment on your behalf, ask them for the clearance decision.

A clearance decision from the Customs archive is subject to charge (Fees charged for Customs’ services). Make a written request at the Customs office and present a valid ID or passport to the customs official. After this, you will receive the decision by email.

You are not required to attach the customs clearance decision to a claim for a revised decision if the customs clearance was completed in the Import Declaration Service for private persons on 11 February 2020 or later. However, the MRN of the clearance should be filled in carefully in the claim for a revised decision.

As a private person, you should keep the customs clearance documents for the current year and an additional six years following the clearance. Customs may ask you to present these documents.

The Import Declaration Service works best with the latest versions of the following browsers: Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Apple Safari.

  • Log in again to the Import Declaration Service for private persons. 
  • You can find the declaration and the request for additional information on the page My declarations.
  • Follow the instructions in the request.
  • For more specific instructions, see the message sent by the customs clearance team. You will usually be asked to upload and send the order confirmation or some other document. You can also send the documents by email to the email address provided in the service.

Customs cannot process your declaration without the additional information. 

Because there are errors or details missing in your declaration, you have to make some changes or additions to the details you’ve submitted.

  • Log in again to the Import Declaration Service for private persons. 
  • You can find the declaration and the request to correct it on the page My declarations.
  • Make the changes or additions to the details as requested.
  • Send the corrected declaration to Customs.

Customs cannot process your declaration without the corrected details.

More about the Import Declaration Service

Gift consignments

Declare the consignment in the Import Declaration Service for private persons. The most convenient way to clear it is through online clearance: Customs clearance of a consignment after delivery

Ask the sender for an account of the content and value of the gift consignment.

Read more: Clearing gifts through Customs

Goods that arrive from outside of the customs and fiscal territory of the EU, or from the EU’s customs territory but from outside of its fiscal territory, are usually to be cleared through Customs. As a consignee, you always have to clear any gift worth over 45 euros, since it is subject to tax. Read more about other gift consignments that need to be cleared through Customs. Even if the consignment is a gift, you must provide a receipt, invoice or other credible proof for the customs clearance, so that the value of the gift can be confirmed. 

Read more about declaring gifts through Customs.

For declaring your gift, you need the following:

  • arrival notification from the transport company
  • information on the gift and its value, for example, a free-form account on the value or a receipt on the goods. (If necessary, ask the sender for the account in advance.)
  • Customs may also wish to see other documents.

 

More questions about gift consignments

Travelling

In matters concerning border crossing by private persons, instructions are provided by the Finnish Border Guard. Follow the instructions on the website raja.fi.

If you live in Finland and you arrive in Finland from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) other than by air and your journey has lasted no more than 24 hours, you are not allowed to bring in tobacco products or nicotine liquids.

Exception: You are allowed to bring in tobacco products and nicotine liquids if it is apparent that you obtained them before you left Finland. For instance, text warnings in Finnish and Swedish can be taken as an indication that the product was bought in Finland.

To bring in tobacco products or nicotine liquids you must be aged 18 or over.

Read more: Bringing back tobacco products from travels 

If the unit packets of tobacco products do not bear the required health warnings – text warnings in Finnish and Swedish and the picture warnings – you are not allowed to bring in more than 200 cigarettes to Finland even if you pay the taxes.

Read more: Bringing back tobacco products from travels 

A private person is allowed to bring into Finland no more than a total of 1 000 grams of chewing tobacco, nasal tobacco and tobacco for oral use (snus) in one calendar day for his or her personal use. These products cannot be brought in as gifts.

To bring in tobacco products you must be aged 18 or over.

Read more: Bringing back tobacco products from travels 

More questions about travelling

Customs control

Customs supervises and controls arriving and departing goods and travellers. Customs supervises the compliance with time limits concerning imports of tobacco products and nicotine liquids in connection with other customs enforcement through control measures aimed the flows of vehicles and travellers in different traffic types.

Section 66 of the Tobacco Act provides for the time limits on imports of tobacco products and nicotine liquids by travellers from non-EEA countries. The time limits are implemented to prevent illegal trade in tobacco products, and to prevent the entry into the Finnish market of tobacco products that are in violation of the Tobacco Products Directive.

Read more: Bringing back tobacco products from travels 

 

To carry out a customs inspection of a person does not require any evidence or suspicion of any offence. The selection is based on a risk assessment or other observation made by Customs.

According to a decision by the Parliamentary Ombudsman, stopping a person and discussing with him or her does not yet constitute a customs inspection.

Read more: Customs control

 

No, they won’t.

The radiation from Customs’ x-ray scanners has no effect on either foodstuffs or film materials.

Read more: Customs control

No. Before the vehicle is scanned, the driver assures Customs in writing that there is no one in the vehicle. Nevertheless, the radiation dose received during a scan is so small as not to pose any danger to humans. A normal medical x-ray examination gives a higher radiation dose to a patient.

Customs does not under any circumstances scan people. Customs can order a person to undergo a bodily search that is performed in the form of an x-ray examination. The x-ray examination of a person is a medical procedure and is always undertaken under the supervision of a doctor.

Read more: Customs control

 

More questions about customs control

Moving to or from Finland

You can bring in your removal goods to Finland free from customs duty and value added tax within 12 months after your move.

Read more: Moving to Finland from outside the EU customs and tax territory

You may, if your permanent residence has been outside the customs and fiscal territory of the EU for a continuous period of at least 12 months before moving to Finland, and the other conditions for exemption from customs duties and value added tax are met.

If you are moving from outside the EU to Finland, your permanent residence will have to have been outside the customs and fiscal territory of the EU for a continuous period of at least 12 months, then you can be granted exemption from customs duties and value added tax if the other conditions are met.

If you are moving from outside the EU to another EU country, you will have to clear your removal goods through customs in that country. Then, if you move from that EU country to Finland, your move takes place within the EU and your removal goods will not have to be cleared in Finland.

Read more: Moving to Finland from outside the EU customs and tax territory

More questions about moving

Restrictions

Ask the Finnish Food Authority about the restrictions and regulations regarding the importation of pets.

Clear the pet through Customs when you enter the country. Present documents and the invoice for the pet in connection with the customs clearance. You can bring in the pet without paying duties or taxes as long as the value limit for imports by travellers is not exceeded. The value limit is 430 or 300 euros depending on which transport vehicle you use. If the value limit is exceeded, the amount of VAT payable is 24% of the purchase price plus transport costs and possible insurance costs. Read more about import duties and taxes.

The new plant health legislation restricts travellers from bringing in plants and plant products from outside the European Union without a phytosanitary certificate. The new legislation will take effect on 14 December.

A phytosanitary certificate is required for:

  • seedlings, potted plants, greenery,
  • scions, stems, tubers, rhizomes and similar propagated materials,
  • seeds for planting,
  • cut flowers and branches as well as
  • fresh fruits, berries, vegetables and root vegetables.

Of fruits, only bananas, dates durians, pineapples and coconuts are exempted from the certificate requirement.

You will still need to check for possible import bans in the Finnish Food Authority’s Guide to Import Bans (in Finnish).

A phytosanitary certificate is not required for mushrooms, and it is therefore still permitted after 1 September 2019 to bring in a maximum of 10 kilogrammes for personal use without testing and radiation controls.

Further information can be found on the Finnish Food Authority’s webpage (in Finnish and Swedish).

Private persons are not allowed to bring fireworks to Finland from outside the EEA. The import of fireworks requires a licence, and the Finnish Safety and Chemicals Agency (Tukes) does not grant licences to private persons. More information

  •  More information: Tukes

No. It is prohibited to acquire and receive oral tobacco (snus), chewing tobacco and nasal tobacco from outside Finland by mail or in any other corresponding way.

Read more: Ordering tobacco products online

 

More questions about restrictions

                            

Contact us

Contact Customs Information Mon to Fri 8 am–4 pm

Right now, our service is often busy; please also 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.

Customs Information Service

 

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