Buying tobacco and other nicotine-containing products while travelling abroad
When returning home from a trip abroad, there are no charges on tobacco and other nicotine-containing products you bring in for private use. To escape paying charges, you must keep within the charge-free quantity (the allowance) you can bring in as a traveller. This further depends on whether you buy the goods in another EU country or in a country outside the EU.
There are some rules you must obey no matter where you buy the tobacco and other nicotine-containing products:
- You must be at least 18 years old.
- The tobacco and other nicotine-containing products must be for your/your family’s¹ private use.
- You must have bought and be transporting the tobacco and the nicotine-containing products yourself.
Note that, at the border, it is the individual customs officer who assesses the reasonability of considering the goods as being for private use.
| From another EU country | From a country outside the EU | |
|---|---|---|
| How much tobacco may I bring back? | For your/your family’s¹ private use. | Any one of the following:– 200 cigarettes;– 100 cigarillos;– 50 cigars;– 250 g of smoking tobacco; or,– a proportional selection of these tobacco products³. |
| How much oral snuff (snus) may I bring back? | For your/your family’s¹ private use. | Up to a value of SEK 4,700 for those travelling on an aircraft or ferry in commercial traffic; up to SEK 3,300 for other travellers. Example: If you are travelling home to Sweden on an aircraft and have bought clothes for SEK 3,000 you may only bring oral snuff to a value of SEK 1,700, since the total value of what you bring back may not exceed SEK 4,700. |
| Do I have to pay any charges on the tobacco? | No. | Only if you want to bring in more than the quantities of tobacco above. |
| How much nicotine-containing e-liquid may I bring in? | 20 millilitres. | 20 millilitres. |
| What quantities of other nicotine-containing products (e.g. nicotine gum and nicotine spray) may I bring in? | 200 grams. | 200 grams. |
| Do I have to pay any charges on e-liquids that contain nicotine or on other nicotine-containing products? | Only if you want to bring in more than the quantities above. | Only if you want to bring in more than the quantities above. |
E-cigarettes and refills
Other rules apply to e-cigarettes and refills.
Buying tobacco in another EU country
If you buy tobacco in another EU country, you can bring in the quantity of tobacco that is regarded as being for your/your family’s private use.
Exceptions
Certain places outside the EU’s fiscal territory (e.g. Åland or the Canary Isles) are, as regards tobacco purchases, classed as being outside the EU.
In assessing whether the tobacco is for your/your family’s private use, Swedish Customs uses, amongst other things, the following refernce levels²:
- 800 cigarettes;
- 400 cigarillos;
- 200 cigars; and
- 1 kilo of smoking tobacco.
If the quantity of tobacco you are bringing in is above these quantities, you are responsible for showing that the quantity is reasonable for your/your family’s own use.
The quantity of tobacco is not the sole determiner used by customs officers in assessing whether the tobacco is really intended for your private use. Swedish Customs assesses all the circumstances.
Buying tobacco or other nicotine-containing products in a country outside the EU
Only certain quantities of tobacco may be brought into Sweden if you buy the tobacco in a country outside the EU. You may bring in any one of the following:
- 200 cigarettes or
- 100 cigarillos or
- 50 cigars or
- 250 g of smoking tobacco or
- a proportional selection of these tobacco products³.
Charge-free quantity of e-liquid that contains nicotine and of other nicotine-containing products:
- 20 millilitres of e-liquid that contains nicotine.
- 200 grams of other nicotine-containing products that, intended for use in mouth or nose, do not contain tobacco (e.g. tobacco-free oral snuff, nicotine gum and nicotine spray).
If you are resident in Sweden, the right to bring tobacco into Sweden without paying charges is conditional on you being abroad for more than 20 hours or making the return journey with an aircraft on a commercial flight.
If you wish to bring in more than the charge-free quantity, you must pay customs duty and taxes. You must also declare it to Swedish Customs by choosing the red lane when crossing the border.
Read more about declaring goods to Swedish Customs – Choosing the red lane at the border.
Tobacco tax and nicotine tax
On any tobacco and nicotine-containing products above the charge-free quantity that you bring in from a country outside the EU, you must pay customs duty and taxes. On any e-liquid and other nicotine-containing products above the charge-free quantity that you bring in, you must pay the nicotine tax, even if you buy them in another EU country.
- Cigarettes: customs duty, SEK 0.34 each; tax, SEK 2.02 each.
- Cigars: customs duty, SEK 0.86 each; tax, SEK 2.26 each.
- Smoking tobacco: customs duty, SEK 428 per kg; tax, SEK 2,495 per kg.
- Oral snuff: customs duty, SEK 104 per kg; tax, SEK 768 per kg.
These rules apply even when you buy tobacco and nicotine-containing products outside the EU’s fiscal territory (e.g. from Åland and the Canary Isles). This is so even though said countries are, in other connections, classed as being part of the EU.
EU’s fiscal territory (information in swedish from the Swedish Tax Agency).
Definitions
¹ Family is those closest to you and living in the same home (e.g. wife or husband). In this connection, Swedish Customs refers to a decision of the Skåne and Blekinge appeal court (case number B2328-04, 20 April 2006). In the absence of a ruling from Sweden’s supreme court, said decision is regarded as precedential.
² Council Directive 2008/118/EC.
³ A traveller can choose a smaller quantity of cigarettes so that he/she can also bring in, duty-free, cigars or other tobacco products (e.g. 100 cigarettes and 25 cigars).
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