Guides / Duty-free alcohol allowance · Updated 19 October 2026

Duty-free alcohol allowance: UK travellers entering Poland and the EU

Since Brexit, a UK traveller arriving in Poland or anywhere else in the EU is treated as arriving from a third country, with its own duty free allowance for alcohol carried in personal luggage. This is a different question from exporting alcohol from the UK commercially, which runs through a separate export declaration process; here we cover only what one traveller can carry across the border for personal use, by drink type and strength, under the EU rule that governs it.

This allowance applies to alcohol carried personally, for your own consumption or as a gift, not goods intended for resale or business use. It is set out in Council Directive 2007/74/EC, the EU law on VAT and excise exemptions for goods carried by travellers from third countries, which covers the UK since the end of the Brexit transition period.

The alcohol bands

The Directive sets two bands for spirit-strength drinks, plus separate fixed allowances for wine and beer. Article 9(1) exempts these quantities from VAT and excise duty:

• Spirits over 22% vol, or undenatured ethyl alcohol at 80% vol and over: 1 litre
• Alcohol and alcoholic beverages up to 22% vol (fortified wine such as port or sherry, and similar intermediate products): 2 litres
• Still wine: 4 litres (set out separately, in Article 9(3))
• Beer: 16 litres (also Article 9(3))

The still wine and beer allowances stand apart from the spirits bands; they are fixed quantities in their own right, not something you trade against the 1-litre or 2-litre figures above.

Mixing the two spirit-strength bands

Only the two spirit-strength categories can be split between each other. The Directive's own wording treats each full allowance, the 1 litre of over-22% drinks and the 2 litres of up-to-22% drinks, as 100% of its own band, and then allows a traveller to combine them proportionally: "the exemption may be applied to any combination of the types of alcohol and alcoholic beverage referred to in paragraph 1, provided that the aggregate of the percentages used up from the individual allowances does not exceed 100 %." In practice this means you could bring, for example, half a litre of spirits over 22% (50% of that band) and 1 litre of fortified wine at or under 22% (50% of that band), rather than needing to pick one category exclusively. Still wine and beer are not part of this mixing rule.

Minimum age

Article 10 of the Directive is direct on this point: "Exemptions under Articles 8 or 9 shall not apply in the case of travellers under 17 years of age." A traveller under 17 has no personal alcohol allowance under this rule at all, rather than a reduced one.

The alcohol allowance sits apart from the general goods allowance

Travellers from a third country also get a separate, value-based exemption for other goods carried in their luggage, set by Article 7 of the same Directive: EUR 300 per person for most travellers, rising to EUR 430 for air and sea travellers, with Member States free to set a lower figure, not below EUR 150, for travellers under 15. The alcohol bands in Article 9 are not counted against that value threshold. Article 12 states plainly that "the value of goods referred to in Articles 8, 9 or 11 shall not be taken into consideration" when applying the Article 7(1) exemption, meaning alcohol you bring within the litre bands above does not eat into your separate allowance for clothes, electronics or souvenirs, and is not valued alongside them.

The practical effect is that the two allowances are assessed independently. A bottle of spirits within the 1-litre band is not added to the EUR 300 (or EUR 430) figure for other goods, but a bottle bought over that litre limit would normally fall to be assessed as an ordinary good instead, since it no longer qualifies for the Article 9 exemption.

Quick reference table

Checklist before you travel

• Work out which spirit-strength band each bottle actually falls into before assuming it counts as a full litre or two
• Use the proportional mixing rule only between the over-22% and up-to-22% bands, not with wine or beer
• Keep still wine and beer within their own 4-litre and 16-litre limits
• Carry alcohol for personal use or as a gift, in quantities consistent with that, not for resale
• Remember travellers under 17 have no alcohol allowance under this rule

Easy Clearance, a UK–EU customs clearance agency handling import and export declarations, T1/T2 transit and UK–Poland removals, has published its own guide to duty-free alcohol allowances for travellers, on its sister site agencjacelna.uk, run by the same team.

Related guides

• Alcohol and tobacco allowances between Great Britain and Poland

• Personal purchases from the UK to Poland and the EU: duty, VAT and allowances

• Sending gifts to the UK from abroad: VAT, duty and declarations

Sources

• Council Directive 2007/74/EC, Article 9: alcohol allowances (retained EU law text, legislation.gov.uk)
• Council Directive 2007/74/EC, Chapter II Section 3: quantitative limits (legislation.gov.uk)
• Council Directive 2007/74/EC, Article 7: general monetary threshold (legislation.gov.uk)
• Council Directive 2007/74/EC, Article 12: value of goods not taken into account (legislation.gov.uk)

General information, not legal, tax or customs advice. Rules change; confirm current requirements on gov.uk or with a registered agent before you ship.