Indeed, the Customs Union is the EU.
Interesting, but what I find most interesting by far is the lack of response 
I mean, this (2nd) measure is pure dynamite! It is absolutely the opposite of what I would have expected.
This could be because
As I say, if one could work out concrete working examples, it would be of help to UK and CH pilots, and of course in the opposite direction too e.g. a German pilot wanting to visit the UK.
Yeah, sorry, I meant to write Schengen, not customs union. Too late to correct ;-)
Adding as one explanation (as I hear in our club) that people do trips like they always have, and do not adjust to the new possibilities immediately. Particularly, as some aiports took/take extra time to change local regulation (wrongly, but still), and one does not kike to argue this part in a foreign place.
people do trips like they always have, and do not adjust to the new possibilities immediately
Yes indeed that’s very true. Look at Brits going to Le Touquet Actually it is a great destination anyway.
And the two countries whose situation would change – Germany and Italy – are a bit further out to be accessible to many Brits in one go. And even then applicable only if the airport in question does not have C+I.
It might however also avoid any extra-schengen charge (which some airports make).
as some aiports took/take extra time to change local regulation
I don’t think these two changes are published by/for any airport. The first is in the general AIP section (which almost nobody reads), not in AIP AD, and the second is an EU regulation which will prob99 also never appear in AIP AD.
However, I would expect a rapid and visible change to CH-DE traffic i.e. an early test of the new EU regulation on mandatory Customs.
ch.ess wrote:
Adding as one explanation (as I hear in our club) that people do trips like they always have, and do not adjust to the new possibilities immediately.
That is probably true. Most people are slow to adapt to any new regulation – be they more strict or more lenient – probably because they know they old ones more or less by heart.
Hard to say, but from experience – most have adopted a personal scheme to deal with such situations and most are reluctant to discuss in public now, as also from experience, any commonly discussed solution of the near past always wrecked a number of proven habits.
My feeling: the trouble lies in the term ‘nothing to declare’, as the German Customs Trap case of the unfortunate Swiss guy tells. If the GA aircraft itself is a good to declare (at least for German Eyes, to avoid the N-word), there is no ease of travel from these paper piles.
any commonly discussed solution of the near past always wrecked a number of proven habits.
Do you mean that someone had a “private arrangement” with some airport?
Many years ago I knew a guy who had such an arrangement with one airport whereby a touch and go would be enough for them to close his flight plan and open the next one This was not at LFAT but one “little airline” was doing exactly that completely openly at LFAT, flying EGKA-LFPT, after France said to them they will re-introduce immigration at LFPT but failed to do so and this eventually destroyed the business.
as the German Customs Trap case of the unfortunate Swiss guy tells
Right; this is exactly why I would expect this reg to be tested ASAP.
But AIUI that German pilot got busted under a different scheme: he landed at a non-Customs airport. The airport mistakenly told him he can land there, and in the UK that would have been adequate due diligence, but clearly not in Germany. Then, as in most countries, Customs had the option of choosing one of several regulations under which to bust him, and they can freely pick the one which produces the biggest hit for the smallest (or zero) work in the courts. And assessing import VAT is a huge fine with zero work…
The problem with these concessions is getting email contact and confirmation of PNR/PPR when the AIP AD2 says NIL…some countries or border regions have centralised systems where this may work?
EU regulations take ages to get into AD AIP
You should not need a confirmation.
The AIP AD + NOTAMs are supposed to be a sufficient preflight briefing.
Of course we know that is BS in so many cases…
Neither of these two concessions is likely to ever be in AIP AD. The 1st one isn’t after, what, 20 years? And on the 2nd one, we can expect rearguard action from most countries.
Peter wrote:
However, I would expect a rapid and visible change to CH-DE traffic i.e. an early test of the new EU regulation on mandatory Customs.
The new option (second) for flying CH-DE seems to be slowly making the rounds in Switzerland. AOPA CH has communicated it. I expect that use will ramp up in 2023 since it is fairly new. After the customs super-GAU in the link posted, people will understandably test the new rules with a certain trepidation until experience is gained. Given that most of that traffic is by German-language pilots, it might be more likely to be reported in those forums rather than here. This is a big deal given the number of small potential airfields in southern Germany, especially for old-timer planes that like grass fields. Since many of those planes are also flown by old-timer pilots who are perhaps a bit less active on social media, the actual use could be much larger than widely known and under our radar.
I queried AOPA IT on this subject before Christmas but haven’t received a reply yet. It would also be a great step forward as it would allow direct from CH to many of the smaller airfields like Lucca, Ozzano, Serristori, etc.
Just to add one more. It is not all C&I.
I have flown directly to CH, as mentioned. But LOIH is in the middle and offers avgas at a price well below my home AP and most destinations (case in question was Locarno). So I might still stop there for fuel in the future.Similar for Portoroz, depending where you go from there.
(That way, I found out that AT (from LOIH at least) still required a check going to CH – not a problem since it was arranged at short notice, but still))
