Is buying banned cigarettes illegall?
Hello, recently i found a guy on telegram that sells menthol cigarettes which are banned in Europe, knowing it’s banned germany and Europe is it also illegal to buy it? Like i don’t wanna get police at my door for bunch of cigarettes lol
Posted Apr 9, 2023, 2:58 PM UTC
07
The production and selling is illegal, the consumption is not. Having that said, you are likely contributing and committing tax fraud by buying cigarettes from a shady dealer from a Non-EU area.
In other news, I've heard that people missing those are buying regular cigarettes now, and scent them with menthol sprays that you can buy for that purpose. Guves the same result apparently.
PS.: the police won't care, the customs will.
buying is also illegal
http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/tabstg_2009/__37.html
See, but this is where it gets complicated. The law you cite does not forbid menthol cigarettes, it forbids buying/importing cigarettes without tax stamp. Obviously, since they're imported from a Non-EU area, they won't have a legit tax stamp on them.
However, I'm pretty sure you could still declare them on import on a EU border, and legalize the import that way by deducting the toll and taxes for private purposes.
But I'm entering dangerous semi-knowledge territory there.
You can't import illegal items.
Well, you can. I believe that's called smuggling and has a whole additional batch of problems associated with it.