End for UK booze-cruising?

Consumers in the UK could be set to get legal access to deliveries of cheap alcohol and cigarettes.A European Court tax ruling this week is to decide whether EU laws which have benefited "booze-cruise" customers for years should also apply to home shoppers using the internet and mail order.As a general EU rule, excise duties on tobacco and alcohol is paid in the member state in which they are consumed, keeping tax revenues for the national exchequer.But if customers buy quantities privately for personal use and transport them back to the UK themselves, they pay the tax rate of the country of purchase.The concession spawned the cross-channel "booze-cruise", with thousands of Britons taking advantage of the system to load up with cheap drink and cigarettes at lower tax rates in France - costing the Treasury millions of pounds in lost domestic tax revenue.But those losses will be small compared to the amounts involved if European judges decide the same regime applies to amounts bought for personal use over the internet and via mail order.© Independent Television News Limited 2006. All rights reserved.

ITN | November 12, 2006

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