Büsingen and the Isle of Heligoland are treated as being outside of the EU for the Duty Free section. The following goods may be imported into the Federal Republic of Germany without incurring customs duty by visitors arriving from countries outside the EU:

• 200 cigarettes or 100 cigarillos or 50 cigars or 250g of tobacco.
• 1l of spirits with an alcohol content exceeding 22% by volume or 2l of spirits or liqueurs with an alcohol content not exceeding 22% by volume or 2l of sparkling or liqueur wine.
• 2l of any other wine.
• 50g of perfume or 250ml of eau de toilette.
• 500g of coffee or 200g of coffee extracts.
• Personal goods to the value of €175.

(a) The tobacco and alcohol allowances are granted only to those over 17 years of age. (b) Wine in excess of the above allowances imported for personal consumption and valued at less than €128 will be taxed at an overall rate of 16%.

Abolition of duty-free goods within the EU
On 30 June 1999, the sale of duty-free alcohol and tobacco at airports and at sea was abolished in all of the original 15 EU member states. Of the 10 new member states that joined the EU on 1 May 2004 and the two states that joined on 1 January 2007, these rules apply to all new member states, except for Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, and Romania.

There are transitional rules in place for visitors returning to one of the original 15 EU countries from one of these four new countries. Nine of the original 15 EU member states put in place transitional rules for goods from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. These are Austria, Belgium, Germany, UK, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, France and Ireland. Imports into these countries include a restriction of 200 cigarettes. An additional restriction of 250g of tobacco for rolling cigarettes applies to Estonia. Four of the original 15 EU member states put in place transitional rules for goods from Bulgaria and Romania. These are Germany, UK, Denmark and Hungary. The restriction for travellers is 200 cigarettes. 

But for all other EU member states, there are no limits imposed on importing tobacco and alcohol products from one EU country to another.

Travellers should note that they may be required to prove at customs that the goods purchased are for personal use only. Member states may follow the EU's guide levels of: 10l of spirits; 20l of intermediate products; 90l of wine (including a maximum of 60l of sparkling wines); 110l of beer; 800 cigarettes; 400 cigarillos (cigars weighing not more than 3g each); 200 cigars and 1kg of tobacco.

All of the transitional rules will expire December 2009.