Personal effects
When traveling within the European Union you are in general entitled
to take your personal effects with you without restriction.
You can now travel from one Member State to another without your
luggage having to undergo customs checks and formalities when crossing
intra-Community frontiers. If you travel by air,
the label on your luggage will have a green stripe on it identifying it as
being exempt from customs checks.
For reasons of public interest, Member States may prohibit or restrict
certain goods such as drugs, products from endangered species or certain
types of pornography.
This also applies to firearms, the transport of which to other EU
Member States is governed by very strict rules. If you are a hunter or
engage in a sport involving the use of firearms, you must be in possession
of a European firearms pass in order to take your weapon with you to
another EU country. For information on the formalities concerned and the
requirements for entitlement to the pass, please contact the competent
national authorities.
Moreover, you may take with you medicinal products that have been
prescribed for you by your doctor or which you have purchased lawfully in
the Member State in which you reside or have been traveling. Please note,
however, that the medicines you are allowed to take with you must not
exceed the quantities corresponding to your personal needs.
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Money
You may take with you all the money you need in the course of your
travels. Although restrictions on capital movements have been abolished
within the European Union, certain Member States may, for administrative
and statistical reasons, require you to declare how much money you are
bringing into or taking out of their territory.
The Member States concerned have set thresholds above which transfers
must be declared. In practice those thresholds exceed the amounts most
travelers actually take with them on short journeys. The thresholds do,
however, vary considerably between Member States: on 1 May 1997, for
instance, the lowest threshold imposed by a Member State was EUR 2 000 and
the highest over EUR 10 000.
Apart from the money you may wish to take with you, you may also
transfer the money you might need on your travels. Remember, however, that
if you want to transfer a large sum between banks in the European Union,
you may be asked to provide certain details for statistical reasons. The
same applies if you use an intermediary other than a bank, e.g. the post
office.
In addition, the national authorities have the right to carry out
checks if they suspect that transfers of funds are connected with criminal
activities.
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Pets
You may, subject to certain requirements, take your pets with you when
traveling to another Member State. For example, in the majority of Member
States a current valid certificate of vaccination against rabies is needed
for every animal. These are standard certificates obtainable from your
veterinary surgeon. For Sweden, Ireland and the United Kingdom, however,
there are certain special requirements. In Sweden your must register the
import of your cat or dog and ensure that it complies with several health
requirements, including rabies vaccination and subsequent blood test.
Ireland and the United Kingdom require, in particular, all imported dogs
and cats to undergo a six month period of quarantine.
The embassy or consulate of the Member State of your destination will
be able to provide all relevant details of the formalities, if any,
concerned.
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source: European Commission
