Gibraltar

Direction: travellers entering Gibraltar by land, sea or air with goods in their personal luggage. Status of the legal basis (verified 2026-09-27): the UK-EU Treaty on Gibraltar applies provisionally since 15 July 2026 (HMGoG press release 705/2026); the Treaty on Gibraltar and the European Union Act 2026 is in force, with s.114 and Schedule 2 commenced on 15.7.2026 (LN.2026/148), and s.6(2) of that Act treating the Art. 336(2) Provisional Implementation Date as an 'Implementation Date'. Under s.114(2), goods carried by travellers in their personal luggage (as well as pets and cash) are subject to Annexes 22 and 23. Only goods in 'personal luggage' of 'non-commercial character' enter without the customs import processes and without transaction tax/excise, within the 'allowance' thresholds which HMGoG's consolidated FAQ states are applied as the GBP equivalents of: general goods EUR 430 by air/sea or EUR 300 by land (EUR 175 for travellers under 15 either way); tobacco 200 cigarettes or 100 cigarillos or 50 cigars or 250 g of tobacco; alcohol 1 litre of spirits (>22%) or 2 litres of fortified/other alcohol (≤22%), plus 4 litres of still wine or 16 litres of beer. Goods in EXCESS of these thresholds, even if non-commercial, become subject to customs declaration and payment of transaction tax/excise (Treaty Act Sch.2 para 1(1)(f)); amounts within the thresholds do not trigger a declaration. The live HM Customs page (captured 2026-09-27) instructs travellers entering Gibraltar to go through a Red or Green Channel and to 'declare everything in excess of the duty free allowances', with selective checks in both channels for prohibited or restricted goods — drugs, firearms, ammunition, offensive weapons, explosives, fireworks, indecent or obscene material, fast motor launches, raw and worked ivory, rigid inflatable boats of six metres or more, cigarettes in commercial quantities — and directs travellers in doubt to the customs inquiry point (Custom House, Waterport; tel. 20078879). The page does not itself designate the authority that receives excess-goods declarations on each land/sea/air route; the currently verified obligation is only: on entering, go through the Red or Green Channel, declare goods in excess of the allowances to the competent customs authority, and ask customs on-site if in doubt (the page: 'If you are in any doubt, go to the customs inquiry point.'). Applicability caveat — Spain-UK administrative agreement on travellers (BOE-A-2026-15670): it entered into force on the date of the last signature (25 June 2026), but by its final provisions it is 'aplicable desde la fecha de entrada en vigor del acuerdo' — applicable only from the UK-EU Treaty's entry into force. Status weighing (2026-09-28, final treaty Art. 336 — FCDO MS No.9/2026 Vol. I read as a web-reader excerpt only, no complete local copy): Art. 336(2) requires the Parties, before provisional application starts, to have notified each other that the administrative arrangements of Articles 251, 260 and 265 (among others) are 'in effect and have been fully implemented', so the provisional application running since 15 July 2026 strongly indicates that those arrangements — including the Art. 265/Annex 22 travellers arrangements this BOE agreement implements — operate in practice (consistent with the 2026-09-25 statement that the new arrangements are in day-to-day operation); Art. 336(4) reads the treaty's own 'entry into force' references as the provisional-application date during provisional application, but that rule governs the treaty itself and cannot simply be extended to the BOE agreement's independent final provisions, and no captured official statement evidences the treaty's entry into force or the agreement's application (the 2026-09-25 release still speaks of 'provisional application'). Accordingly the following remain recorded as conditional rules of the agreed text — strongly indicated to be operating in practice, formally unverified as applicable: under the agreement, excess-goods declarations are presented, in all cases where necessary, to the Spanish customs authorities, EXCEPT travellers entering Gibraltar by land, who present them to the UK customs authorities with respect to Gibraltar, i.e. HM Customs Gibraltar (para 3.3). Spanish customs calculate and collect any EU customs duties due; other indirect taxes are settled by destination — VAT if the traveller is going to Spain, transaction tax if entering Gibraltar (paras 3.4, 4.3.1). For air/sea arrivals in Gibraltar from outside the EU customs territory, Union thresholds (Directive 2007/74/EC) apply where the traveller's destination is Spain and Gibraltar thresholds where it is Gibraltar (para 4.1.1). Declarations and payment of duties/taxes are handled at the two customs counters standing side by side in the airport Second Line Inspection Area (paras 6.2, 6.5-6.6); payment by electronic means is preferred (para 4.3.3). Airport/port flows are segregated with green and red channels (para 6.8). Above-threshold non-commercial goods may still be brought in: the traveller declares and pays, and tax paid at the place of purchase (transaction tax or VAT) can be refunded for above-threshold goods (para 4.4.1). Goods of commercial character carried by travellers entering or leaving by sea or air may be seized and subject to re-export, abandonment or destruction (para 4.3.1(b)(ii)); land-border travellers with commercial goods are informed of the Annex 19/21 procedures but given no assistance with them (para 4.3.1(b)(i)). The thresholds apply during the first 3 years of the treaty's application for EU-Gibraltar movements and then cease for movements from the EU into Gibraltar (FAQ; Technical Notice 86/2026). Caution: the HM Customs page's own quantitative allowance conditions (absence of at least 24 hours, not more than once in any calendar month, GBP 32 for other goods, no relief under 17 for tobacco/alcohol/perfume) are pre-treaty legacy wording and do not override the 2026 treaty thresholds; UK or EU mainland allowances must not be substituted for Gibraltar.

Direction: travellers entering or leaving Gibraltar, by air, sea or land, carrying accompanied cash of a value of EUR 10,000 or more (threshold inclusive; agreement text 'igual o superior a 10.000 euros'). Current domestic basis (verified 2026-09-27): the UK-EU Treaty applies provisionally since 15 July 2026 (HMGoG press release 705/2026); s.114(2) of the Treaty on Gibraltar and the European Union Act 2026 (in force 15.7.2026, LN.2026/148; s.6(2) treats the Provisional Implementation Date as an Implementation Date) subjects the entry and exit of cash to Annex 23. Part VIIIA of the Imports and Exports Act 1986 (ss.91C-91O) is in force and requires a declaration under Article 3 of the European Regulation (Regulation (EC) No 1889/2005 — accompanied cash of EUR 10,000 or more) to be made in writing in a form approved by the competent authority (s.91E); the Collector of Customs is the competent authority (s.91D); customs officers may require information and have search powers, and cash imported or exported without the required declaration may be seized and detained (ss.91F-91K); penalties are of such amount as the competent authority considers appropriate (s.91L — no fixed published amount); declaration information goes to the GFIU (s.91O). Applicability caveat — Spain-UK administrative agreement on travellers (BOE-A-2026-15670): it entered into force on the date of the last signature (25 June 2026), but by its final provisions it is 'aplicable desde la fecha de entrada en vigor del acuerdo' — applicable only from the UK-EU Treaty's entry into force; status weighing (2026-09-28, final treaty Art. 336 — FCDO MS No.9/2026 Vol. I read as a web-reader excerpt only, no complete local copy): Art. 336(2) requires the Parties, before provisional application starts, to have notified each other that the administrative arrangements of Articles 251, 260 and 265 (among others) are 'in effect and have been fully implemented', so the provisional application running since 15 July 2026 strongly indicates those arrangements operate in practice; Art. 336(4)'s reading of the treaty's own 'entry into force' references as the provisional-application date governs the treaty itself and cannot simply be extended to the BOE agreement's independent final provisions, and no captured official statement evidences the treaty's entry into force or the agreement's application (the 2026-09-25 release still speaks of 'provisional application'); the following therefore remain recorded as conditional rules of the agreed text — strongly indicated to be operating in practice, formally unverified as applicable: the duty to declare accompanied cash and make it available for control, using the form set out in Appendix 1 of Annex 23 (para 4.5.1); declarations to the Spanish customs authorities — air/sea travellers intending to enter Spain immediately after arriving in Gibraltar (whether arriving from outside or from within the Union customs territory, the latter under Spanish national rules), and air/sea travellers intending to leave Gibraltar immediately after entering it from Spain, toward the Union or outside it (paras 4.5.2-4.5.3); declarations to the UK customs authorities with respect to Gibraltar (HM Customs Gibraltar) — air/sea travellers intending to enter Gibraltar immediately after arriving in Gibraltar by air or sea, and air/sea travellers leaving Gibraltar after having stayed there (para 4.5.4); land route between Gibraltar and Spain — two successive declarations in each direction: leaving Spain into Gibraltar, first to Spanish customs and then, on entering Gibraltar, to the UK customs authorities with respect to Gibraltar; leaving Gibraltar into Spain, first to the latter and then, on entering Spain, to Spanish customs (para 4.5.5). No routine checks or verifications of accompanied cash are carried out on travellers moving between Gibraltar and Spain — this does not remove the declaration duty and is without prejudice to Annex 23 art. 22(3) and any non-discriminatory checks by the Spanish authorities on Spanish territory (para 4.5.6). Information from declarations made to the UK authorities with respect to Gibraltar is transmitted to the Gibraltar Financial Intelligence Unit under s.91O of the Imports and Exports Act 1986 (para 4.5.7). Caution: Part VIIIA still cross-refers to Regulation (EC) No 1889/2005 for its definitions, and s.2A (inserted by the Treaty on Gibraltar and the European Union Act 2026, in force 15 July 2026) makes the Act subject to the Treaty; until the agreement's applicability condition is evidenced as satisfied, the Annex 23 Appendix 1 form model and the dual-authority routing (including the double land-route declaration) must not be presented as operative facts — the in-force written-form requirement is that of s.91E, with forms approved by the Collector of Customs.