I am flying to Switzerland from an EU country (Greece) and am wondering whether there are any restrictions in place regarding type and quantity of foodstuffs I may bring with me for personal consumption.
asked Nov 3, 2023 at 9:28
Add a comment
|
2 Answers
Limits for bringing items in person through the border
Beware of limits placed on specific types of food. If you are bringing in more than the free allowance, you may have to declare those and pay some hefty duty.
There are the usual cases for alcohol, spirits, tobacco, perfumes that you may encounter in most countries.
In addition, for Switzerland, the most surprising ones are about:
Meat: 1kg per person. If this is a mixed dish such as bolognaise sauce, the weight of the whole food preparation is considered, with no regards for the actual percentage of meat in it.
Dairy products with 15% fat or more: 1 liter per person.
Cooking oil, margarine: 5 liters per person. Watch out for this one if you plan on bringing back some olive oil from Italy!
Those allowances are the maximum you can bring in per person and per day without having to pay duty. The allowance covers the combined value of everything you bring into Switzerland during the same calendar day. Therefore, doing three roundtrips to the supermarket in Germany or France will not multiply the limits by 3 if you do those in the same day! This has nothing to do with the duration of your stay; just how much you can bring in per day.
The value of the foods you bring in also count towards the CHF 300 daily allowance. For example, if you bring it some electronics worth CHF 280, and you have CHF 50 worth of food, including 800 grams of meat, as one single traveller, you will not pay duty for the meat because you are within limits for the meat quota, but you will have to declare the combined value of everything. For the total of CHF 330, you are over the free allowance and expected to pay duty. Also, if you have the same total amount but with 2 kilograms of meat, you are expected to pay two import duties together (total value over CHF 300 + meat over 1kg).
If you are multiple adults in the same car and drive through the border, you cannot "bundle up" the allowances for one large item. For instance, a car with 3 adults inside can bring 3 separate packages of 1 kilogram of chicken breasts each without having to pay duty. But, a bigger package of 3 kilograms of chicken would exceed the free allowance and you would have to pay duty on the 3 kilograms.
A simple rule if you travel as a group: if you are able to attribute each individual item worth below CHF 300 you bring in to each adult in a way that the total for each one remains below those CHF 300, you do not have to pay. Apply similar technique for foods listed above.
Meat and dairy products are notably more expensive in Switzerland in comparison to other foods at supermarkets. Locally, it is a tradition to stock up on those foods for relatively cheaper prices when travelling in the neighboring countries. We make sure we abide with those limits when bringing our groceries home.
Shipping limits
Thinking of shipping the extra stuff instead? Rules are different for things that go through the post. I did not find the information telling if the food limits apply or not, therefore I would remain on the safe side. The general value before you have to pay is lower. The idea is that you do not have to pay if the VAT on the goods is below CHF 5. It means a max value of
- CHF 200 for books and food except alcohol (2.5% VAT)
- CHF 70 for anything else (7.75% VAT)
Beware: the cost of shipping, in addition to the goods, is counted as part of the value toward those limits!
If you get the delivery by the Swiss Post, you usually pay at the postman directly. There is a small service fee added.
If you use DHL, UPS, FedEx, DPD and such... brace yourself for hefty processing fees that are sent to you as a bill a few weeks after. For example, I received a shipment with CHF 5 of import duties. FedEx slapped CHF 15 of processing fees on top of it. I forgot about the bill as we receive a lot of those in Switzerland... the matter was passed over to a well-known collection agency that has borderline practices, slapping CHF 50 on top. For a total of CHF 70 at the end; ouch!
-
(+1) I knew about the meat and dairy restrictions but not about the way goods with a total value over CHF 300 were treated, that's also much stricter than EU rules, definitely something to keep in mind!– RelaxedCommented Nov 4, 2023 at 8:13
-
@Relaxed, DavGin: but in the case of a joint customs declaration, the people who are included but not responsible are still entitled to the exemption provided there are articles worth less than SFr. 300 attributable to them. It's a bit complicated: bazg.admin.ch/bazg/en/home/information-individuals/… (also available in French, German and Italian; links at the top right of the page).– phoogCommented Nov 7, 2023 at 7:11
-
Also note that foreign VAT is excluded from the valuation of the goods, so if you paid €372 for something in Greece at the normal VAT rate of 24%, the item is valued at €300 for customs purposes. The amount is converted using the previous day's exchange rate.– phoogCommented Nov 7, 2023 at 7:22
-
"with no regards for the actual percentage of meat in it." Products with <20% meat by weight are not considered meat products for the 1kg exemption purpose; though if it is over 20% the weight of the entire product (container incl.) is determinant.– xngtngCommented Nov 9, 2023 at 13:54
There are no prohibitions when bringing food from the EU into Switzerland, but for certain foods, you will have to pay duty if you exceed certain free allowances. If the total value of what you import exceeds CHF 300, you will also have to pay Swiss VAT.
You can find the allowances and duty rates on this web page from Swiss Customs:
answered Nov 3, 2023 at 9:35
-
On the subject of the CHF 300 exemption, note the somewhat complicated rules governing joint declarations: bazg.admin.ch/bazg/en/home/information-individuals/… and that the limit of CHF 300 is calculated after subtracting VAT from the price, if VAT is shown on the sales receipt.– phoogCommented Nov 7, 2023 at 7:15
-
@phoog I'm not sure exactly what you consider somewhat complicated. The rules seem very similar or identical to how duty free or VAT free allowances are treated when entering other countries. Commented Nov 7, 2023 at 7:46
-
There is a large number of examples that leave me uncertain whether I understand the rules correctly. Maybe a simpler statement of the rules of possible, but the customs office doesn't make one readily available. The fact that other countries have similar rules does not change the fact that they're complicated.– phoogCommented Nov 10, 2023 at 0:56
-
@phoog You are linking to a page with a few rather complicated examples and not an explanation of the rules. The Swiss rule is as simple as: Does the total value of the goods you import exceed CHF 300? If yes, you have to pay VAT on the entire amount. If no, you are exempt from VAT. bazg.admin.ch/bazg/en/home/information-individuals/… Commented Nov 10, 2023 at 8:42
-
@phoog The examples you are linking to are just in addition to that trying to explain how multiple people travelling together can split certain gods between them to get through as cheap as possible. The rule for that is: One item costing more than CHF 300 can not be split between the free allowance of multiple travellers. If two people jointly import one item worth CHF 600, they can't both make use of the CHF 300 allowance. Commented Nov 10, 2023 at 8:44