Bringing alcohol from abroad
Persons under the age of 18 are not allowed to bring in any alcoholic beverages to Finland. Persons under the age of 20 are only allowed to bring in mild alcoholic beverages to Finland.
Spirits (more than 80 % by volume) cannot be ordered for delivery to Finland without a permit from Valvira (the Supervisory Authority for Welfare and Health).
Arriving from inside the EU
You can bring in alcohol exempt from tax from the territory of the European Union when you import it for your personal use or as a gift. You must transport your alcoholic beverages personally, and in the same vehicle as the one in which you arrive in Finland.
The are no universal limits that can be provided on quantities of alcohol. The guidelines are as follows:
- 110 litres of beer (over 0.5%)
- a total of 90 litres of wine, ciders and long drinks manufactured through fermentation
- red wines, white wines, rosés
- sparkling wines, max. 60 litres
- ciders and long drinks manufactured through fermentation
- 20 litres of intermediary products (max. 22 %)
- for example liquor, vermouth, bitters and sherry
- 10 litres of other alcoholic beverages (over 1.2% and max. 80 %)
- vodka, gin, rum and other spirits
- long drinks made from ethyl alcohol.
You can import products from different categories simultaneously. However, you cannot replace products of various categories with other products. This means you cannot bring more wine even if you bring less beer.
If you bring in alcoholic beverages in quantities that exceed the guidelines, you must be able to credibly prove that the alcohol is meant for your personal use.
Personal use comprises
- your own use
- use by your family
- use of a gift product.
If you receive money or any other compensation for alcohol, that does not constitute personal use.
What is personal use and how must you explain it? Read more at the bottom of the page.
Long drink beverages are produced both through fermentation and by mixing in ethyl alcohol. Always check the drink container, bottle or can to find out how the long drink is produced.
Long drink, produced through fermentation, is classified as wine with the guideline limit of 90 litres. Long drink, produced from ethyl alcohol, is classified as other alcohol with the guideline limit of 10 litres.
Each guideline limit is to be complied with separately. In other words, you can import long drinks that belong to both categories.
If you bring in long drinks in a quantity exceeding the guideline limits, you must provide a credible explanation on them being meant for your personal use.
Finland-Sweden ferries, the Åland Islands and the Canary Islands
The Canary Islands, the Åland Islands and the ferries in traffic between Finland and Sweden that pass through Åland are exceptions. From these, you can bring in tax-exempt alcohol only in a quantity corresponding to alcohol imported from outside the EU.
Exempt from tax, you can bring
- 16 litres of beer and
- 4 litres of still wine and
- 1 litre of spirits (over 22 %) or 2 litres of other alcoholic beverages (under 22 %).
The same restrictions apply also to other regions that are part of the territory of the EU, but not the fiscal territory of the EU. First, check if the area is part of the fiscal territory of the EU.
The allowance is the same when you bring in alcoholic beverages you have bought inclusive of tax (e.g. beverages bought from Alko) to the Åland Islands from other locations in Finland or from another EU country.
Please note: If your ferry journey is between mainland Finland and the Åland Islands only, the ferry is not allowed to sell you more than two litres of beer free of tax.
Arriving from outside the EU
You can bring in alcohol exempt from tax from outside the European Union when you import it for your personal use.
You can bring in the following maximum quantities from outside the EU:
- 16 litres of beer (over 0.5%) AND
- 4 litres of still wine (red, white and rosé).
You can also bring the following:
- 1 litre of spirits (over 22 % and at most 80 %) OR
- other alcoholic beverages (at most 22 %) 2 litres
- sparkling wines, long drinks, ciders, liqueurs
- vermouth, bitters, sherry.
In terms of quantities, the vehicle you are using when arriving in Finland is not relevant.
You can also combine spirits and other alcoholic beverages under 22 % by volume, as long as their total quantity is not exceeded. For example, you can bring in 0.5 litres of spirits exempt from tax (half of the allowed quantity) and 1 litre of sparkling wine (half of the allowed quantity).
This rule does not apply to still wine or beer.
Personal use comprises
- your own use
- use by your family
- use of a gift product.
If you receive money or any other compensation for alcohol, that does not constitute personal use.
What is personal use and how must you explain it? Read more at the bottom of the page.
If you live in Finland and arrive in Finland from outside the EEA (EU countries + Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein) other than by air, you may only import alcoholic beverages if your journey has lasted more than 24 hours. You are not allowed to import alcoholic beverages when you return from a less than 24-hour journey even if you pay the taxes.
If you live outside the EEA and arrive in Finland other than by air, you may import alcoholic beverages only if you are staying in Finland for more than 72 hours. If you are only travelling or transiting through Finland, this time limit does not apply.
The time limits do not apply to travellers arriving from an EU country or Åland.
When you arrive in Finland from outside the EU, you can import gifts and passenger items without paying tax and customs duty
- for a value of 430 euros when you arrive by air or sea
- for a value of 300 euros when you arrive by other means.
Note that alcohol is not included in the value limit.
Read more about the value limit for tax exemption concerning passenger import items.
For the time being, import of the following items is prohibited:
- strong alcoholic beverages (over 22%) such as whisky, rum, gin, vodka or liqueurs
- mild alcoholic beverages mixed with alcohol at the manufacturing stage, such as certain long drinks and hard seltzer beverages.
The ban concerns also alcoholic beverages bought from tax-free shops.
However, you can bring in other light alcoholic beverages, for example beer as well as fermented wines and ciders. You can only bring in a restricted quantity of these for personal use or as a gift.
Products classified as being for personal use are items which you have acquired for your personal use at a price including tax, and which you are personally transporting to Finland.
Personal use means your own use of the goods, as well as their use by your family, or use as a gift.
If you are importing alcohol for the purpose of selling it or for any other commercial use, you are always required to pay tax. If you receive any compensation whatsoever for the alcohol you bring in, it constitutes commercial use.
For example
- the cousin of a bride at a wedding is not allowed bring imported alcohol for their cousin’s wedding imported alcohol cannot be offered by way of giving thanks to volunteer workers you cannot import alcohol for a group of friend.
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, or 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.
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. Such a request requires a written reply that complies with the instructions on providing additional information.
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, the alcohol is no longer 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.
When you are importing alcohol from outside the EU, the imports are to be random. Passenger import also from within the EU can be seen as commercial import, i.e. subject to taxes, if it happens repeatedly.
The random or repetitive nature of import is not precisely defined in legislation. The matter is resolved on a case-by-case basis and in accordance with the information available to the enforcement authorities at the time of the import.
For the purposes of the Alcohol Act,
- alcoholic substance means a substance or product which contains ethyl alcohol more than 1.2 % by volume
- alcoholic beverage means an alcoholic substance intended for consumption as beverage which contains ethyl alcohol in a maximum quantity of 80 % by volume
- mild alcoholic beverage means an alcoholic beverage that contains ethyl alcohol in maximum quantity of 22 % by volume
- strong alcoholic beverage means an alcoholic beverage that contains ethyl alcohol in a quantity exceeding than 22 % by volume
- spirits means ethyl alcohol or an aqueous solution of ethyl alcohol where the proportion of ethyl alcohol exceeds 80 % 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