Today's Date:

C- 18000

You are a resident of Canada or the U.S. and you are visiting France. Or you return to France from a country which is not a member of the Union (1).

You may qualify for a personal exemption which allows you to bring goods of a certain value into the country without paying customs duties, excise taxes or Value Added Tax.

Articles totaling €175 (if you are 15 or over) or €90 (if you are under 15) may be entered free of duty or tax - provided, of course, they are not prohibited or otherwise restricted. You may also import duty and tax free, subject to some limitations (see table below), tobacco products and alcoholic beverages (provided you are 17 or over), perfume, toilet water, coffee and tea , as well as medicinal products and motor fuel.

With respect to tobacco products and alcoholic beverages, when an allowance is only partially used for one type of products, the remainder may be made up of one or more products from the same category. For example, if you are bringing into the country 100 cigarettes (i.e. half the tobacco allowance), you may use the rest of the allowance to bring 50 cigarillos - or else 25 cigars. If you have bought 1 bottle of still wine, you may also bring duty and tax free half a liter of spirit over 22° volume or 1 liter of fortified wine.

This is an individual exemption. It may not be grouped or combined with other members of a family or with other travelers. This means that a group or family of four people over 15 years of age may not claim exemption with respect to an article worth €700 (175 x 4).

Any item worth more than the maximum amount of the allowance (€175 or €90, as applicable) or imported in excess of the limitations on tobacco products, alcoholic beverages, perfume and toilet water, coffee and tea and motor fuel, will be subject to duty and tax.

If you are bringing several items into the country, those whose combined value does not exceed the maximum amount will be entitled to free entry. However, goods made up of several components and carried simultaneously in the same vehicle will be held to form a single set, even if several invoices are involved (e.g. parts of stereo set).

Personal effects in current use (including bicycles) which are clearly of a non-commercial nature may be imported duty and tax free. Those items cannot be sold or otherwise disposed of in France. Every one of them must be taken back with you when you leave the country.

Goods and miscellaneous articles	Quantities
1. TOBACCO
Cigarettes	200 units
or Cigarillos (max. 3 grams each)	100 units
or Cigars	50 units
orSmoking tobacco	250g
2. ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES
Still wines	2 liters
and
either spirits over 22 degrees volume	1 liter
or fortified wines of 22 degrees volume or less	2 liters
3. PERFUMES	50g.
4. EAUX DE TOILETTES	1/4 liter
5. COFFEE	500g.
or Coffee extracts and essences	200g.
6. TEA	100g.
or Tea extracts and essences	40g.
7. MEDICINES (*)	In proportion to the traveller's personal requirements
8. MOTOR FUEL	Quantities contained in a normal motor car fuel tank and in an emergency can containing not more than 10 liters
9. OTHERS GOODS
Per traveler aged 15 years and over	€175
Per traveler aged under 15 years	€90

(*): the traveler should have a prescription from his personal physician if the medication is subject to such a prescription.

(1) The following countries are members of the European Union: Austria (excluding Liechtenstein), Belgium, Cyprus, The Czech Republic, Denmark (excluding the Faroe Islands and Greenland),Estonia,Finland, France (including Monaco and the Overseas "départements" of Guadeloupe, Guiana, Martinique and la Réunion),Hungary,Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy,Latvia,Lithuania,Luxembourg,Malta,the Netherlands,Poland,Portugal,Slovakia,Slovania,Spain (excluding Ceuta & Melilla and the Canary Islands), Sweden and the U.K. (including the Isle of Man, but excluding the Channel Islands and the British Dependent Territories).