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Travel between Switzerland and the UK: What am I allowed in my suitcase?

This is the first Christmas since Brexit officially came into force. While Switzerland is not in the EU, it does make a difference to travellers heading to or from the UK. Here's what you need to know about the new rules and what you can - and cannot - pack.

Published: 19 November 2021 13:45 CET
Updated: 14 December 2021 09:05 CET
Airline staff in masks walk past an international arrivals sign at Heathrow Airport
Flying to the UK from Switzerland - or heading back in the other direction? Here's what you can bring. Photo TOLGA AKMEN / AFP

Although Switzerland is not in the European Union, the alpine nation is grouped with the EU by the UK when it comes to the rules for importing food and drink (along with Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, the Faroe Islands and Greenland). 

Meat, fish and animal products

The rules on bringing meat, dairy, fish and other animal products into the UK are relatively relaxed.

The key factor in considering what you can bring into the UK is ‘personal use’. There are no set limits on this, which means the allowance is relatively generous – but if you bring in a pallet with 400 kilos of rare blood tongue sausage, people might start asking questions. 

READ MORE: Three things to know about Switzerland’s protected ‘blood tongue sausage’

You can bring in meat, fish, dairy and other animal products as long as they’re from Switzerland, the EU or the other countries on the UK’s list (Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, the Faroe Islands and Greenland). 

What about booze? 

Whether you want to bring in some of Switzerland’s finest beers, wines and schnapps as a gift for your family or friends – or simply to help you get through Christmas dinner – you can, but there are some limits on how much booze you can bring to the UK from Switzerland. 

How much you can take depends on the type of alcohol, although the upper limits are pretty generous, as you can see below. 

Limits:

  • beer – 42 litres
  • still wine – 18 litres (or 24 standard size bottles)
  • spirits and other liquors over 22 percent alcohol – 4 litres (or 6 standard-sized bottles)
  • sparkling wine, fortified wine (port, sherry etc) and other alcoholic drinks up to 22 percent alcohol (not including beer or still wine) – 9 litres (or 12 standard sized bottles)

It’s worth knowing that you can split your allowance, for example you could bring 4.5 litres of fortified wine and 2 litres of spirits. 

Travel: What are Switzerland’s Covid test requirements?

The allowance is per person, so if you’re travelling in a car with two people over the age of 18, you can bring back double the amounts listed above.

What can I bring to Switzerland from the UK? 

As illustrated above, there are relatively few restrictions when heading to the UK – but it’s the trip back where Brexit really starts to bite. 

As the UK is now considered a ‘third’ country rather than a member of the EU, Switzerland puts in place relatively strict restrictions on what can be brought in. 

First things first, you can only import things for personal use. From there, you’ve got a limit of CHF300 (£240) – if it’s above that, you need to pay VAT. 

This does not include things that you use regularly, i.e. if you bring your iPhone in that you use regularly, you will not need to pay VAT on it. 

Ready to eat food and drink for the day of travel is also allowed. 

The importation of any form of meat is banned, while dairy products are heavily restricted. 

You are allowed to bring in baked goods like biscuits, while chocolate and sweets are an exception to the dairy rule. 

Egg or fish products are allowed, provided less than half of the food product itself consists of fish or egg. 

You can bring in baby milk powder up to 2 kilograms, along with meat extracts and concentrates (like soup stocks). 

READ MORE: What are the Covid rules for Switzerland’s Christmas markets?

Please check out the following link for rules related to the specific amount of imports. 

What about booze? 

As long as you don’t exceed CHF300 (£240), you can bring in whatever type of booze you like to Switzerland from the UK, although there are some limits on particular categories.

You are allowed a maximum of one litre of booze over 18 percent alcohol by volume. 

You can bring in five litres of alcohol under 18 percent. 

If you want to bring in some fine British tobacco, you are allowed 250 units of cigarettes, cigars or other tobacco products.  

More information about the specific types of alcohol products is available at the following link. 

A comprehensive list of what you can and cannot bring into Switzerland is available at the following link.

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TRAVEL NEWS

What will Europe’s EES passport checks mean for dual nationals?

The EU's Entry & Exit System (EES) of enhanced passport checks will usher in big changes for travellers - here we answer readers' questions on the position for dual nationals.

Published: 22 April 2024 17:10 CEST
What will Europe's EES passport checks mean for dual nationals?

The EU is preparing, after many delays, to introduce the EES system for travel in and out of Europe.

You can find a full explanation of how it works HERE, but in essence it is an enhanced passport check – registering biometric details such as fingerprints and facial scans and introducing an automatic calculation of how long you have stayed within the EU/Schengen zone in order to detect ‘over-stayers’.

And it’s already causing stress for travellers. We asked readers of The Local to share their questions here – and one of the biggest worries was how the system will work for dual nationals ie people who have a passport for both an EU country and a non-EU country.

EES: Your questions answered

EU passports 

One of the main purposes of EES is to detect ‘over-stayers’ – people who have either stayed in the EU longer than their visa allows or non-EU nationals who have over-stayed their allowance of 90 days in every 180.

As this does not apply to EU nationals, people travelling on an EU passport are not required to do EES pre-registration and will continue to travel in the same way once EES is introduced – going to the ‘EU passports queue’ at airports, ports and stations and having their passports scanned as normal.

Non-EU 

Non-EU travellers will, once EES is up and running, be required to complete EES pre-registration.

This means that the first time they cross an EU/Schengen zone external border they will have to go to a special zone of the airport/port/terminal and supply extra passport information including fingerprints and a facial scan.

This only needs to be done once and then lasts for three years.

Non-EU residents of the EU/Schengen zone

This does not apply to non-EU citizens who are permanent residents of an EU country or who have a long-stay visa for an EU/Schengen zone country – click HERE for full details.

Schengen zone passports/Irish passports 

EES applies within the Schengen zone, so people with Swiss, Norwegian and Icelandic passports are treated in the same way as citizens of EU countries.

Ireland and Cyprus are in the EU but not the Schengen zone – these countries will not be using the EES system at their borders, but their citizens are still EU citizens so can continue to use EU passport gates at airports and will be treated the same as all other EU citizens (ie they don’t have to do EES pre-registration).

OK, so what if you have both an EU and a non-EU passport?

They key thing to remember about EES is that it doesn’t actually change any of the rules on immigration – it’s just a way of better enforcing the rules that are already in place. 

Therefore the rules for dual nationals remain as they are – for most people which passport to travel on is a matter of personal choice, although Americans should be aware that if you have a US passport and you are entering the USA, you must use your American passport. 

But it’s also important to remember that the passports of dual nationals are not ‘linked’ – therefore if you present an American passport at the Italian border, you will be treated exactly the same as every other American, there is no way for the border guard to know that you are also Italian.

Likewise if you are a UK-Germany dual national and you travel back to the UK on your German passport, you can expect to be treated the same as every other German at the border, and might be asked for proof of where you are staying in UK, how long you intend to stay etc – the system has no way of knowing that you are also British. 

Therefore whether you have to complete EES pre-registration or not is entirely a matter of which passport you are travelling on – if you use your EU passport you won’t have to do it, if you use your non-EU passport you will.

It’s also possible to use two passports for the same trip – so let’s say you’re travelling from Spain to Canada – you enter Canada on your Canadian passport, and show your Canadian passport again when you leave. However, once you re-enter Spain you show your Spanish passport in order to benefit from the unlimited length of stay.

If you’re travelling between France and the UK via the Eurostar, Channel Tunnel or cross-Channel ferry, you need to remember that the Le Touquet agreement means that French passport checks take place in the UK and vice versa. You can still use both passports, but you just need to keep your wits about you and remember to hand the French one to the French border guards and the British one to British guards.

In terms of avoiding immigration formalities using two passports is the most efficient way for dual nationals to travel, but some people prefer to stick to one passport for simplicity, or don’t want to keep both passports together in case of theft.

Basically it’s a personal choice, but you just need to remember that you will be treated according to the passport that you show – which includes completing EES pre-registration if you’re showing a non-EU passport.

It’s also worth remembering that if the changes do cause border delays (and there are fears that they might especially at the UK-France border), then these will affect all travellers – regardless of their passport. 

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