French customs limit food and tobacco from Algeria

French customs allow travellers returning from Algeria to bring back limited amounts of dates, honey and tobacco, but ban meat and dairy products such as cheese.

Travellers returning from a country outside the European Union (EU), such as Algeria, have a duty-free allowance.

Duty-free limits

The allowance is 430 euros per person aged 15 or over when travelling by air or sea. It falls to 300 euros for travel by car or train, and to 150 euros for those under 15.

Travellers who bring back less than these amounts do not need to declare anything or pay duty.

Family members cannot combine their allowances for one item.

Limits on tobacco and alcohol apply to travellers aged 17 and over. Travellers can bring back 200 cigarettes, 100 cigarillos, 50 cigars or 250g of smoking tobacco.

These limits cannot be added together, so travellers must choose one of these categories or a mix in the same proportion.

For alcohol, the limit is 1 litre of drink above 22 degrees, or 2 litres of drink below 22 degrees. Travellers can also bring back 4 litres of still wine and 16 litres of beer.

Above these amounts, travellers must declare the goods and pay duty.

Meat, dairy and other animal products

Meat, milk and all products made from meat or milk are banned from entering the EU from a country outside it.

This includes khliî, cheese, lben and smen, which is a type of butter. The ban prevents animal diseases from entering the EU.

Algeria has reported foot-and-mouth disease in the east of the country and has suspended its imports of cattle, the same report says.

Customs always seize and destroy banned products.

Traditional dry cakes such as makrout, ghribia and baklawa are still allowed. Other pastries and biscuits are also allowed if they keep at room temperature and contain no meat, even when they have butter or milk.

Some animal products are allowed in limited amounts: up to 2kg of honey and up to 20kg of fish, fresh or dried. These must be declared and shown to customs on arrival.

Fruit and plants

Fruit, vegetables, plants and seeds from a country outside the EU need a phytosanitary certificate, a plant health document, whatever the quantity.

In practice, travellers almost never have this document. So oranges, fresh figs, olives or plants brought from Algeria risk being seized.

There are five exceptions: bananas, pineapples, coconuts, durian and dates. Dates can enter without a certificate and with no limit on quantity.

Olive oil, a processed product, does not need a certificate either. Like dates, it stays within the 430-euro allowance by value.