 Poster: A snowHead
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A warning to all. I always get stopped driving through customs as I have a Swiss plated car and they are convinced I've been stocking up in France. My elderly parents today however, drove to the customs at Vallorbe and got stopped. As a present to the family for Christmas they had a turkey, ham and other consumables. They were not aware of the meat import restrictions and although they offered to pay the applicable duty they were also fined...the total of all...CHF 1200!! They weighed all the meat, the irony of it was if my mother had cooked the sausage rolls, the duty wouldn't apply 
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Tue 15-12-15 20:05; edited 1 time in total
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| Swissie wrote: |
| A warning to all. I always get stopped driving through customs as I have a Swiss plated car and they are convinced I've been stocking up in France. My elderly parents today however, drove to the customs at Vallorbe and got stopped. As a present to the family for Christmas they had a turkey, ham and other consumables. They were not aware of the meat import restrictions and although they offered to pay the applicable duty were also fined...the total of all...CHF 1200!! They weighed all the meat, the irony of it was if my mother had cooked the sausage rolls, the duty wouldn't apply |
The Swiss are pretty serious. I'm currently serving out a 6 month driving ban for speeding and not that fast either. Plus 1 month prison sentence suspended for 3 years and something like 2000 CHF of fines.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@davidof, Wow, poor you. Yes you're right, I've always said that you have to be up front with those at customs, I just felt bad for the olds who offered to pay but were stung anyway.
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@Swissie, she got a proper roasting then.
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| Swissie wrote: |
| @davidof, Wow, poor you. |
Yes bit unfair for your folks. In my case no excuse and those are the rules.
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@Pruman, 
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Ouch!!
The rules are not easy to find but are published and meat - in particular pork - has "protectionist" levels applied.
Sometimes you have a sympathetic agent, sometimes not. Sorry for your folks, seems a little harsh.
@davidof, yikes! How fast and in what limit??
Last edited by You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net. on Tue 15-12-15 20:12; edited 1 time in total
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Bloody hell that does seem very tough indeed. I'll be sure to warn our friends to be extra careful on weighing up.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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So if I drive through Switzerland on the way to Chamonix any food we have is taxable, unless it's cooked!
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Then I'd better not take my usual route through the Jura with my frozen turkey crown and ham (not to mention streaky bacon) on my way down on Thursday....
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You know it makes sense.
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I got away with smuggling a packet of lardons through the border last week.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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@rjs, Me too, but my crime was Smokey Bacon Walkers crisps.
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Poster: A snowHead
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I have a choice, the Jura route where there are often cursory stops and occosaional delays, or via Geneva where I've only ever been stopped to buy a vignette. Sounds like Geneva. I've just perused the "rules" worst case they charge you 10% of the value of imports, refundable on leaving the country. Not sure if that also applies to food.
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Tue 15-12-15 21:05; edited 1 time in total
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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You can take a kilo. If you're landing in Gva then you're supposed to declare it on arrival.
I had enough to restock a service station last weekend. There used to be a 3.5kg limit for smoked meat - bacon was easy, leg of lamb is the challenge
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Cash @mountainaddict, Switzerland is ridiculously expensive.
If you can you buy over the border, unless you're filthy rich or it's the same price from what I gather. There are famous incidents of price fixing- BMW has just been fined 156mCHF for banning Swiss residents from buying BMWs in Europe and importing them.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@Nadenoodlee, The last time I bought a leg of lamb here, I nearly needed resuscitating from the shock of the price.
I have shown your responses to the 'olds' and you have made them feel better...so thanks, although I feel my poor Pa has aged 10 years
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| under a new name wrote: |
Ouch!!
The rules are not easy to find but are published and meat - in particular pork - has "protectionist" levels applied.
Sometimes you have a sympathetic agent, sometimes not. Sorry for your folks, seems a little harsh.
@davidof, yikes! How fast and in what limit?? |
81km/h in a 50 zone but I was between 2 villages and hadn't realized the 50 zone continued between the villages. There was a sign but I didn't see it. No excuses, fair enough. It was quite a shock getting involved with the Swiss justice system though.
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You still need 4 in the car to get a good one through @Swissie, my best friend lives in Zug and says driving is the problem- flying you're never stopped.
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@Nadenoodlee, So true, my brother who lives in the UK and has a farm shop, has never had a problem bringing the odd 'cut' over here when he flies.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| Pruman wrote: |
| @Swissie, she got a proper roasting then. |
Someone obviously squealed.
I would have told them to trot on.
But it sounds like they had a right stuffing.
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@Filthyphil30k,
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Mrs Jbob had all her French cheese confiscated at Geneva airport when a police dog sniffed it out.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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So the moral of the story is to follow the customs guidelines when entering a country?
A quick Google search shows https://www.ch.ch/en/swiss-customs/
Customs in the UK deal with people smuggling stuff and we (the UK public) would expect the rules to be enforced and applicable fines to be paid. CHF 1200 is high but if that is what their rules allow them to charge then there is no arguing with it.
I guess that they could have asked for the option of going to court to argue their case?
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@pam w, have a good journey. We are also travelling Thursday/Friday with frozen turkey saddle and a gammon. Fingers crossed for the Eurotunnel.
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You know it makes sense.
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Gaffs tape it to your torso @andy1234,
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Thanks @Nadenoodlee, but I'm packing enough pork as it is! Think I've put too much lardon
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Poster: A snowHead
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@andy1234, 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Quote: |
I guess that they could have asked for the option of going to court to argue their case?
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@Hurdy, \
Yes they have the option in 10 days time, but they have a life  They are quite philosophical about it, they know rules are rules.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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@Swissie, could they gave abandoned the turkey and the other stuff or would they still have been fined, so it wasn't worth the loss of the meat!
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How heavy was the turkey?
the limit used to be 500g/person of beef/lamb/pork but processed meat limits (sausages, smoked, marinated etc) and poultry were much higher. They changed this to 1kg/person over 17 years for all meat, which is much more restrictive, especially if you have kids.
The limits are clear, but the penalties are not, hence my question of how far over the limit for a chf1000 fine.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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| davidof wrote: |
81km/h in a 50 zone but I was between 2 villages and hadn't realized the 50 zone continued between the villages. There was a sign but I didn't see it. No excuses, fair enough. It was quite a shock getting involved with the Swiss justice system though. |
Blimey didn't realise the penalties were that harsh. I take it the 81 is after they took off a few km/h as margin? Is the ban also applicable in FR or just CH?
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Standard routine is to take 6km/h off for error, and the ban is against your driving licence in effect, so unless someone has several drivers licences, it means no driving. You'd be mad to flaunt it as one would then have to do time in the clink, as a colleague of mine discovered....
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@BobinCH, weren't you around when that bloke managed to get the (at least at that point) biggest fine in European history?
Around 250,000 CHF and he lost the New Ferrari he was "running in" ...
For the Swiss it's often means tested based on tax returns. In the UK I believe it's usually a ban once 30mph over limit in force?
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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That is slightly cheaper than it would be in the UK (Sainsbury's).
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@stanton,
That isn't expensive for skinless breasts. You can pay the same in UK supermarkets.
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