Local Euro MP "very disappointed" by 'duty free over the net' decision

5.00.00pm UTC (GMT +0000) Thu 23rd Nov 2006

The Liberal Democrat Euro MP for Yorkshire and the Humber, Diana Wallis, has responded to today's European Court's judgement which closes the doors for UK shoppers to be able to buy alcohol and cigarettes from other parts of the EU over the internet at 'low prices'.

Today the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg did not follow the Advocate-General's opinion of last year which will mean that goods from other EU states bought by individuals for their own use over the internet cannot be delivered to Britain free of UK duty.

Diana Wallis MEP, a member of the European Parliament's Internal Market Committee, said:

"I am very disappointed with this news. Free movement of goods, after all, is what the EU's internal market is all about. This is particularly bad news for British consumers who continue to be denied the full advantages of this internal market. I had hoped the ruling would draw a line under the absurdity of people having their cars confiscated at ports by UK Customs because they cannot prove cigarettes and alcohol they bring into the UK is for their own use."

Diana Wallis MEP, who is Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the European Parliament, has been at the forefront of the campaign over several years which supports victims of so-called 'booze cruises'.

"Over the years I have had many, many examples of constituents who are stopped by UK customs and who have their cars confiscated because they cannot prove the cigarettes and alcohol they bring into the UK is for their own use. There have even been cases of whole families being tipped out of their car at Dover and, when they ask how they should get home to Yorkshire, they have been told to get a taxi!

"This ruling will mean that for EU citizens 'booze cruising' will be with us for several years yet."

An advocate-general, Sir Francis Jacobs, gave his independent opinion to the European Court of Justice in December 2005. The judges made their decision today, 23 November, in Luxembourg. In the present case (Staatssecretaris van Financiën v B.F. Joustra) a private individual, resident in the Netherlands, purchased duty-paid wine in France for his own use. He did not transport the wine himself, but engaged a transport company to do so. The Dutch tax authorities levied excise duty on the wine, and the UK government is supported them in its action.

The court ruled against the Advocate-General's advice saying that in order for products to be exempt from excise duty in the state of importation:

• They must be for the use of the private individual who has bought them - not for other people, such as other members of a wine club

• They must be transported personally by the private individual