Travellers from overseas who have exceeded the duty-free tobacco limit imposed by the government on 1 September have opted to pay the additional duty and GST rather than dump the product, a Customs and Border Protection spokesperson said.
Last Saturday, the new duty-free tobacco limit of 50 cigarettes or 50 grams of tobacco products came into effect over the previous limit of 250 cigarettes or 250 grams of tobacco.
“A larger number of travellers have elected to pay the duty rather than abandon the excess tobacco,” the Customs and Border Protection spokesperson told Neos Kosmos.
Customs said that “no lengthy processing delays” occurred this week for international travellers while new procedures were put in place. In order to combat any delays, customs produced flyers, brochures and fact sheets – available in Greek – and contacted tour operations and overseas travel agents to ensure travellers knew about the change to duty-free tobacco.
Smokers who exceed the duty-free tobacco limit can either leave their cigarettes or tobacco or pay duty and GST on the product. Anyone caught exceeding the limit will have to pay duty and GST on everything or dump the lot.