Cider allowances from France to Ireland

kfdb

Hello - does anyone know what the allowance for cider are when travelling from France to Ireland? The Revenue site states:

• 10 litres of spirits (whiskey, gin, vodka and so on)
• 20 litres of other alcoholic drinks with no more than 22% alcohol (for example, port, sherry and some liqueurs)
• 90 litres of wine (of which only 60 litres can be sparkling)
• 110 litres of beer

I’ve a dim (and likely faulty) recollection that cider was its own category at one point in the past with something like a 50L allowance. My reading of the above would suggest that cider falls into the “other alcoholic drinks” category which would be a shame.

thanks!

Cloudio9

There's no limit if it's for personal consumption. The above are the "ask no questions" amounts. i.e. it's assumed it's for personal consumption if you stay within these amounts. Obviously if you filled a truck with booze it's going to be difficult to justify that it's for personal use.

kfdb

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119428025#Comment_119428025

Understood. Yet my past few (annual!) trips have involved a little more scrutiny at Dublin and Rosslare than I remember prior. It was clear from the line of questioning and receipt checking that the allowances were being pitched as harder limits. I’ve no desire to be the “test case” that seeks to clarify the upper bounds and how personal consumption is evaluated. 😁

I guess my question relates to the “ask no questions” amount for cider in particular which looks like 20L. For this trip, I shall stick to my rule-of-thumb that a single car load per year is fair game (I.e. if it fits in a class b vehicle, it’s likely personal consumption).

Cheers!

BeerNut

I would be willing to bet they treat cider as beer if its packaged like beer and wine if it's packaged like wine. Treating it as a liqueur would be outside the spirit (no pun intended) of the guidelines.

irishproduce

There are absolutely no limits whatsoever. None.

Of course customs and revenue would like to limit you but in hard law, they can't. So the effort is instead spent making it uncomfortable for you so as to deter you from wanting to bring anything home.

The term personal use is purposely used also. Personal use extends to essentially howvere the hell you want to use it.

Share it with family, pour it down the toilet. All up to you.

So in terms of EU limits as an EU citizen? There are none under free movement. So knowck yourself out. Welcome to the benefits of being in EU

Quackster

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119940742#Comment_119940742

That's not quite true.

While there are no hard limits, EU law dictates that the alcohol must be for your own private use and sets out a structure by which Member States may determine whether the quantity of alcohol in your possession is compliant with this law.

https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/travel/carry/alcohol-tobacco-cash/indexamp_en.htm

standardg60

The limits are nonsense, they have no way of proving that they are not for your own use, which they need to.

Quackster

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120096398#Comment_120096398

If you're over the guideline limits, the onus is on you to prove it's for your own us, not on them to prove it's not.

BeerNut

Yep, they'll just seize it if they're suspicious, and they have the power to do so. There isn't anything you can do on the spot to prevent it from happening. But really as long as you're not coming over in a packed van marked "Murphy's Fine Wines" you're probably going to be OK.

Citizen Six

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120096445#Comment_120096445

They customs officers are probably pretty adept at picking out who's genuine and who isn't.