Swiss customs: necessary when travelling from France to USA via GVA?

Question

I'm a USian planning a summer trip to France. I've already bought my tickets to arrive in Nice and leave from Geneva. I will be travelling thru France mostly via car which I plan on returning to the French side of GVA.

My last stop in France is Burgundy, and naturally, my partner and I are planning on buying and bringing home a good amount of wine (perhaps 12 or 15 bottles each). However, from what I've read about Swiss customs, travelers passing thru must still declare alcoholic beverages, and thus pay import duties and possibly VAT. Is this so even if I am only visiting Switzerland insofar as the Geneva airport, which lies on the border? Does one need to go through Swiss customs at all at this point? This confuses me, as I thought Switzerland was part of Schengen, but perhaps that doesn't apply here.

A related question would be: do I need to go through this if I wanted to spend a few nights in Geneva first? I assume I would, and thus am thinking I will just drive to the airport straightaway and visit Switzerland another time.

I apologize if this is specific but I have tried to research this on my own and have found no definitive answer. I don't believe I'm the only one who has encountered this as Geneva is the closest major airport to Burgundy. Any help would be very much appreciated.

Answer 1

The Schengen agreement is entirely unrelated to customs and goods, it's only about the movement of people. The UK isn't in the Schengen area and maintains its own visa policy but as a full member of the EU, it's part of the common market, which means you can import any quantity of alcoholic beverages from other EU countries (for personal use). Conversely, Switzerland entered the Schengen area and agreed to follow the Schengen visa policy and to abolish border checks but still enforces restrictions on the movement of goods.

Strictly speaking, entering Switzerland with so much wine would therefore indeed be illegal. But Geneva airport also has a small French sector that is technically on Swiss territory but is treated as a part of France for customs and immigration purposes (part of the airport is built on what was earlier French territory but it was transferred to Switzerland at the time).

Whether you can use it depends on the flight you want to catch. You can check-in for flights to France and international flights from a few airlines but not all of them. From the official website:

Can baggage be checked in for an international flight in the French sector?

Yes, checking in is possible in the French sector for some international flights (other than France), but only those operated by Aeroflot, Alitalia, Etihad, KLM, Luxair, Tunisair, and Twinjet by making a call (telephone available on the check-in counter).

In any case, if you want to avoid Swiss duty or transit paperwork, you need to avoid entering Swiss territory and approach the airport from the French side. There was another question about that recently. If you have a French rental car, returning it in the French sector is actually to your advantage (no surcharge for crossing the border) but you need to make sure the company you got if from is present on both sides as some only have desks in the Swiss sector.

Note that there should not be any systematic ID check on the border and you can often cross it without seeing anyone but Switzerland can still do some spot checks from time to time. And if you are flying to a non-Schengen airport, Swiss customs can of course inspect your bags in the airport. You could still try your luck but I am not sure what the odds of being caught really are.

Alternatively, you could enter Switzerland and stay in Geneva, hoping not to get caught on the border (perhaps avoiding the motorway) and then leave on the last day to enter the airport from the French side. I don't think the odds are too bad but it's obviously illegal and you could be liable for a hefty fine. Beware that many rental cars often have exotic registration numbers (e.g. 60 in France or AI in Switzerland) that might invite extra scrutiny.

Finally, you might also stay for some time in Geneva and simply import the bottles officially. VAT is low in Switzerland and the duty on wine for less than 20 litres (26 bottles) is not very high either and all that can be refunded if you declare them as goods in transit. The only trouble is taking care of the paperwork.

Answer 2

You may use the transit facility of Swiss Customs. This is probably the most easiest way to transit with wine without problems.

Alcoholic beverages that exceed the allowances and are destined for transit through Switzerland must be declared upon entry (see also Alcoholic beverages). The same applies for tobacco goods (see also Tobacco goods). A transit receipt is issued upon entry for this purpose.

You need to pay a deposit, which is refunded by the customs office of exit if all of the goods are re-exported. The deposit amounts to roughly the equivalent of the import duties (see also Alcoholic beverages and Tobacco goods). If the deposit is paid in cash (CHF, EUR, USD, GBP), it will always be refunded in Swiss francs. It can also be paid by credit card; the sum is credited to the same credit card upon re-exportation.

Source: http://www.ezv.admin.ch/zollinfo_privat/04342/04359/04362/index.html?lang=en

Answer 3

I'd go with what LaurentG has written. Declare it, pay the deposit (by credit card! Anything else will result in a for you completely useless CHF refund with according fees if you change it to USD) and get refunded upon leaving.

There are flights departing from either secor, the French and the Swiss. Therefore, depending on where your gate lies, you might still have to cross the border. I quote from the website: "For some airlines flying to destinations other than France, check in and go to the international transit area." So it depends on your flight whether you have to cross the border or not. (official website in English: http://www.gva.ch/en/DesktopDefault.aspx/tabid-60/ ).

To what amount do you estimate the wines you want to buy? There's a certain amount per person (!) which you can import for free. It was 5 liters last time I checked, which is about 8 0.75l bottles (again: per person, so for two people it doubles to 16 bottles).

Furthermore: When buying stuff over 175 Euro in France as for an exportation certificate. This paper you get stamped at the French border upon leaving and then you can reclaim the VAT which is almost 20% of the price you paid.