EU and Schengen concessions - what are the limitations?

The EU customs union in action
In the case of the EU, this means that there are no customs duties to be paid when goods are transported from one EU country to another.

Cash – obligation to declare within the EU
Obligation to declare within the EU
Anybody entering Germany from another EU member state carrying money in cash or equivalent means of payment in a total amount of 10,000 euros or more is obliged to declare this amount of money verbally to the customs control unit when asked (pursuant to Article 12a (2) of the Customs Administrations Act (Zollverwaltungsgesetz)).
This measure is intended to combat money laundering, the funding of terrorism and criminal activities; it contributes to improving security and preventing crime within Germany and the EU.
The customs control units monitor observance of the obligation to declare both at the borders and within the national territory. – Zoll.de

The border-free Schengen Area guarantees free movement to more than 425 million EU citizens, along with non-EU nationals living in the EU or visiting the EU as tourists, exchange students or for business purposes (anyone legally present in the EU). Free movement of persons enables every EU citizen to travel, work and live in an EU country without special formalities. Schengen underpins this freedom by enabling citizens to move around the Schengen Area without being subject to border checks.

Today, the Schengen Area encompasses most EU countries, except for Cyprus and Ireland. Bulgaria and Romania became the newest Member States to join the Schengen area as of 31 March 2024, any person crossing the internal air and sea borders will no longer be subject to checks. Nevertheless, a unanimous decision on the lifting of checks on persons at the internal land borders is still expected to be taken by the Council at a later date. Additionally, the non-EU States Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein also have joined the Schengen Area.

Freedom and security for travellers

The Schengen provisions abolish checks at EU’s internal borders, while providing a single set of rules for controls at the external borders applicable to those who enter the Schengen area for a short period of time (up to 90 days).

The Schengen area relies on common rules covering in particular the following areas:

crossing the EU external borders, including the types of visa needed,
harmonisation of the conditions of entry and of the rules on short stay visas (up to 90 days),
cross-border police cooperation (including rights of cross-border surveillance and hot pursuit),
stronger judicial cooperation through a faster extradition system and the transfer of enforcement of criminal judgments,
the Schengen Information System (SIS) and
documents needed for travelling in Europe.
Police checks and temporary border controls

Any person, irrespective of their nationality, may cross the internal borders without being subjected to border checks. However, the competent national authorities can carry out police checks at internal borders and in border areas, provided that such checks are not equivalent to border checks. The non exhaustive list of criteria allowing to assess if police checks is equivalent to border controls is set out in the Schengen Borders Code. The Code is complemented by relevant case-law of the Court of Justice. It includes the following elements:

the police checks do not have border control as an objective,
are based on general police information and experience,
are carried out in a manner clearly distinct from systematic border checks on persons at the external borders,
are carried out on the basis of spot-checks.
The police carry out checks under the national law of the Schengen country. Depending on the exact purpose, they can, for example, include identity checks.

For more information on police checks in internal border areas see cases of the European Court of Justice C-188/10 (Melki), C-278/12 (Adil) and C-444/17 (Arib).

Temporary reintroduction of border controls

If there is a serious threat to public policy or internal security, a Schengen country may exceptionally temporarily reintroduce border control at its internal borders.

If such controls are reintroduced, the Member State concerned has to inform the Council (and thus, other Schengen countries), the European Parliament and the European Commission as well as the public. The Commission provides more information on the current reintroductions of internal border controls on the website: Temporary Reintroduction of Border Control.

Proposal to reform the Schengen Borders Code

The proposal to amend the Schengen Borders Code, submitted by the Commission on 14 December 2021, has three main objectives:

to offer solutions to ensure that internal border checks remain a measure of last resort and to provide flexibility to Member States’ use of alternative and proportionate measures to the challenges they address
to build on lessons-learned from the COVID-19 pandemic
to respond to the recent challenges at EU’s external borders
The proposal to amend the Schengen Borders Code is both the result of extensive consultations with Member States, as well as a response to the latest developments at EU’s external borders.

Interinstitutional negotiations between the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission started on 7 November 2023.

On 30 November 2020 and 17 May 2021, the Commission organised two Schengen Forums. The aim was to gain better insight into the needs of Schengen States, in particular, regarding the situation at internal borders. The Forums allowed for constructive exchanges towards building a stronger and more resilient Schengen area.

The discussions on both events provided the basis for the Strategy towards a fully functioning and resilient Schengen area, which was presented by the Commission in June 2021. The Schengen Strategy took stock of the progress made on the fundamental pillars of the Schengen area and other key measures sustaining the area of freedom, security and justice. It also announced a proposal for amendment of the Schengen Borders Code.

Criteria for countries to join the Schengen Area

Joining the Schengen Area is not merely a political decision of the joining State. Countries must fulfil a list of pre-conditions:

apply the common set of Schengen rules (the so-called “Schengen acquis”), e.g. regarding controls of land, sea and air borders (airports), issuing of visas, police cooperation and protection of personal data,
take responsibility for controlling the external borders on behalf of other Schengen countries and for issuing uniform Schengen visas,
efficiently cooperate with law enforcement agencies in other Schengen countries, to maintain a high level of security, once border controls between Schengen countries are abolished,
connect to and use the Schengen Information System (SIS)
Countries wishing to join the Schengen area must undergo a series of Schengen evaluations to confirm whether they fulfil the conditions necessary for the application of the Schengen rules.

Once the Schengen Evaluation confirms the readiness of the Member State to join the area without internal border controls, a unanimous approval from all other Member States applying the Schengen acquis in full is required.

Bulgaria and Romania have successfully accomplished the Schengen evaluation process set out in their Treaties of Accession, taking all the necessary measures to ensure application of all relevant parts of the Schengen acquis. On 30 December 2023, the Council unanimously agreed on the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the Schengen area. Thus, as of 31 March 2024, both Member States will start applying Schengen rules. Controls at internal air and sea borders between Bulgaria and Romania and countries of the Schengen area will be lifted as of 31 March 2024. The Council agreed that a further decision should be taken at an appropriate date for the removing checks at internal land borders.

In addition, the Schengen evaluation process to assess the readiness to join the Schengen area is ongoing for Cyprus. The Schengen Information System in Cyprus was put into operation in July 2023 and this process was already verified by a dedicated Schengen evaluation in 2023.

For more information on the Schengen Evaluation and Monitoring mechanism see Schengen evaluation and monitoring.

Background: Free movement in Europe

Originally, the concept of free movement was to enable the European working population to freely travel and settle in any EU State, but it fell short of abolishing border controls within the Union.

A break-through was reached in 1985 in Schengen (a small village in Luxembourg), with the signing of the Agreement on the gradual abolition of checks at common borders, followed by the signing of the Convention implementing that Agreement in 1990. The implementation of the Schengen Agreements started in 1995, initially involving seven EU countries.

Born as an intergovernmental initiative, the developments brought about by the Schengen Agreements have now been incorporated into the body of rules governing the EU.

Related documents

Communication on the full application of the Schengen acquis in Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia
Report of the third voluntary fact-finding mission to Bulgaria – latest developments in the application of the Schengen acquis
Report of the voluntary based fact-finding mission to Romania and Bulgaria on the application of the Schengen acquis and its development since 2011
Report of the complementary voluntary fact-finding mission to Romania and Bulgaria on the application of the Schengen acquis and its developments since 2011
Notifications under Article 19 of Regulation (EC) No 1931/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 December 2006 laying down rules on local border traffic at the external land borders of the Member States and amending the provisions of the Schengen Convention List of notifications of bilateral agreements under Article 19 of Local Border Traffic Regulation
Notifications under Article 14 (5) of Regulation (EC) No 2016/399 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 09 March 2016 on a Union Code on the rules governing the movement of persons across borders (Schengen Borders Code) (codification). Statistics on the number of persons refused entry at the external borders of EU States
Notifications under Article 39 of Regulation (EC) No 2016/399 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 09 March 2016 on a Union Code on the rules governing the movement of persons across borders (Schengen Borders Code) (codification)
List of notifications under Article 39 (Schengen Borders Code) (codification)
List of border crossing points (consolidated version)
List of residence permits (consolidated version)
Reference amounts for crossings of the EU’s external borders (overview and  consolidated version)
List of national services responsible for border control (consolidated version)
Model cards issued by the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the Member States to accredited members of diplomatic missions and consular representations and members of their family (consolidated version part 1 and part 2)
List of specimen of residence permits (consolidated version part 1 and 2)
Notifications under Article 42 of Regulation (EC) No 2016/399 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 09 March 2016 on a Union Code on the rules governing the movement of persons across borders (Schengen Borders Code) (codification)
Lists of notifications under Article 42 (Schengen Borders Code) (codification)
Commission Implementing Decision establishing the report of 2019 – 2020 thematic evaluation of Member States` national strategies for integrated border management and Annex 1
Commission report on the functioning of the Schengen evaluation and monitoring mechanism, First multi-annual evaluation programme (2015-2019)
Commission report (2015) 675 on the functioning of the Schengen area
Commission report (2013) 326 on the functioning of the Schengen area
Commission report (2012) 230 on the functioning of the Schengen area
Commission report COM (2010) 554 on internal borders
Related links

Schengen Information System (SIS)
Documents needed for travelling in Europe (Your Europe portal)

https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/policies/schengen-borders-and-visa/schengen-area_en

Both EU customs union and Schengen are massively awesome for flying GA cross borders.

I spontaneously decided to take a direct airline flight from Croatia yesterday. I could have reached it by bus or cat, but preferred to spend Sunday with my family as long as possible.
Thanks to EU I could jump in a two seater 3 hours later and fly for 30 minutes together with a friend, land at a small Croatian airfield with zero customs/immigration requirement and easily reach airline flight.

IMO any requirements for any forms or customs airfields etc… manifest extreme decrease of practicality for GA cross border flying.

Peter wrote:

What are the limits on the EU Customs concession? €10k in cash or valuables?

10 000 EUR or more in cash or cash equivalents. This is not per se an exception to the customs concession, but an AML/FT restriction. “Cash equivalents” is:

• banknotes and coins (currently circulating or retired issues that can still be exchanged at the Central bank, such as e.g. the pre-EUR national currency banknotes).
• bearer cheques
• cheques that are signed by the emitter, but where the recipient has been left blank
• traveller’s cheques
• cheques for which the drawer is not the beneficiary
• promissory bills, bills of exchange, …
• anonymous bills of exchange
• money orders
• securities, capitalization bonds and other bearer or endorsable negotiable debt securities;
• gold: coins containing at least 90% gold and bullion such as bars, ingots, nuggets or other agglomerates of native gold containing at least 99.5% gold;
• prepaid cards: a non-nominal card that stores or provides access to monetary value or funds (…) where such card is not linked to a bank account

In my understanding, a watch worth 20 000 EUR or even 150 000 EUR is not a “cash equivalent”. Nor is a prepaid (no credit) visa or mastercard that is linked to a bank account and/or that is made to the name of a person.

Please beware that there are 28 separate rules:

• an EU rule that cash and cash equivalents of 10 000 EUR or more must be declared on entry or exit of the EU. That rule is, as of today, Regulation (EU) 2018/1672 (…) of 23 October 2018 on controls on cash entering or leaving the Union (and previously was Regulation (EC) No 1889/2005 of 26 October 2005). It requires declaration of the cash, whether it is travelling with a human or not (e.g. as a postal or courier envelope).
• 27 national rules that make, broadly, the same requirement for intra-EU border crossings

As such, the definition of “cash equivalent” might be subtly different between the 28 rules.

Snoopy wrote:

Anybody entering Germany from another EU member state carrying money in cash or equivalent means of payment in a total amount of 10,000 euros or more is obliged to declare this amount of money verbally to the customs control unit when asked

Please beware that some member states to the west and south of Germany (France, Luxembourg, Belgium, Italy) require prior declaration on one’s own initiative and not only “when asked”. I have no information for member states in other directions.

What are the limits on the EU Customs concession? €10k in cash or valuables? What about a €20k PP watch ?
And what are the limits on the Schengen concession? Presumably everybody must be either a passport holder or hold a Schengen visa?

Snoopy – the above post is off topic and the other two don’t really answer anything. Just a mass of text pasted from somewhere.

Maybe I am too tired today, but in my opinion my posts answer

A) EU customs concessions (or did you mean third country to EU)?

B) What Schengen treaty is

C) Practical relevance of A and B for General Aviation

Peter wrote:

OK so basically €10k is the Customs limit intra-schengen. (…) there is no limit (?) for B2B transactions/shipments

No. The €10k limit is only for cash and cash equivalents. There is no difference on whether this is a B2B shipment or a non-commercial transport. A B2B shipment of gold coins or bullion must be declared. I’m not aware of any obligation to declare any non-cash goods, even high value (watches, art, limited edition shoes, whatnot). One can take an unlimited amounts of valuable goods, but see below.

The main exception is goods subject to excise duty, such as alcohol, tobacco, fuel, …

Furthermore, VAT-wise there is another exception for new means of transports (cars, boats and aircraft). If a person living in a member state buys a new means of transport in one member state, that person must pay VAT in the member state where (s)he lives. “New means of transport” means:

• for boats, more than 7.5 m long AND (less than three months old OR sailed less than 100 hours)
• for aircraft, MTOW more than 1 550 kg AND (less than three months old OR flew less than 40 hours)
• for land vehicles (more than 48 cm³ displacement OR more than 7.2 kW power) AND (less than six months old OR less than 6000 km)

Peter wrote:

Certainly there never was anything when the UK was in the EU.

You were just not aware of them because you were not trading in these exceptions (goods subject to excise, bullion and new means of transport). These rules are much older than Brexit.

Now that i think about it, i should also ask about the cash limits im supposed to comply with.

Now that Romania has officially joined Schengen in march, am i still under the government’s 5000 RON cash limit or am i under Schengen’s 10000 euro limit ?