What cannot cross the border in a removal load

Why this matters more than it looks

A removal load always has a few dozen boxes in it. The customs officer does not open them all — one or two at random, checked against the inventory. If what turns up in that box should not be there, the problem is not just that item.

What follows, in order: the vehicle is held until it is explained, the whole shipment is examined in detail, and in the worst case the relief from duty is lost for the entire load. One bottle of rakija can end with duty paid on all your furniture.

So this is not a list of recommendations. It is a list of things that come out of the boxes before loading.

Not personal effects — even though they are yours

For a move into the EU there are four categories the regulation does not recognise as personal effects, however genuinely yours and used they are:

• alcoholic drinks — all of them, including home-made rakija and wine from the cellar;
• tobacco and tobacco products;
• commercial means of transport;
• articles used in a trade or profession, other than portable instruments of the applied and fine arts.

This does not mean they cannot be taken at all — it means they do not travel duty-free as part of a move. Small quantities fall under traveller's allowances, but that is a separate regime and it does not mix with a removal load.

What is never carried, under any circumstances

Whatever the customs position, these do not go in a removal van:

• flammable and explosive materials — petrol, gas cylinders, thinners, pressurised aerosols, fireworks;
• weapons and ammunition, hunting weapons included — those travel only under their own procedure, with permits;
• chemicals, acids and plant protection products;
• perishable food — the freezer is emptied before the move, not carried full.

This is a safety matter, not a customs one. A gas cylinder in a closed vehicle standing at a border in summer heat is a real danger, not a formality.

The grey area: food, plants, medicines, pets

These are the things people most often get wrong with the best of intentions:

• Home-made food — meat products and dairy face strict limits on entry to the EU. Dried meat and cheese from the village are a common reason for being held.
• House plants and seeds — these fall under plant health rules. It is the soil in the pot that is the problem, not the plant itself.
• Medicines — your own prescription in a reasonable quantity travels with you, not in the load, and with the prescription to hand.
• Pets — never in the removal vehicle. They travel separately, with a passport, microchip and rabies vaccination. They travel separately, with their own paperwork.

Valuables that should not be in the van at all

Money, jewellery, documents, bank cards, laptops and hard drives with your records — these belong in the car with you, not in the load. Not because anything happens to them, but because a removal load crosses a border and is opened by people who are not you.

The same goes for anything irreplaceable: photographs, certificates, a child's documents. If the vehicle were delayed for a week, how much would you miss it? That is the test.

How this is handled in practice

When we draw up the inventory with you, we go through this list. Anything in the four customs categories is either taken out or declared separately as an ordinary import, with duty paid. Anything on the safety list comes out and is not discussed.

The point of the inventory is that it matches the load exactly. An officer who opens box 14 and finds what box 14 says is in it asks no further questions. That is the whole technique, and it costs nothing but half an hour before packing.

Frequently asked questions