Stay informed: good taste in holiday gifts might cost you at the post office

  • Published
  • By Staff Reports
  • 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
RAF MILDENHALL, England --  Mailing packages stateside from Europe involves many prohibitions, restrictions and import duty rules. U.S. personnel stationed overseas can avoid these pitfalls by getting the "Know Before You Go" pamphlet from a military customs office.

Banned products include canned meats, pâté, salami, sausage and soup mixes containing meat. It is also illegal to mail handguns and alcoholic beverages to the U.S., and other articles may need special import permits.

Fresh fruits and vegetables are also prohibited because they could harbor pests like the Mediterranean fruit fly.

Many European countries make traditional nativity scenes, but the natural products used to make them are sometimes banned to import into the U.S. because of the agricultural pests and diseases that could be on them. Avoid mailing scenes that contain moss, bark, pinecones, untreated straw or other materials found to contain insects. Agriculture officials say nativity scenes that are produced using finished wood, plastic or commercially cleaned and lacquered straw (except rice straw) are fine to mail.

The U.S. Postal Service bans all liquor from being mailed, even if it is inside a piece of candy, but customs allows travelers over 21 years of age to import one liter of duty-free liquor. Keep in mind that Cuban rum and cigars are also often available in Europe but prohibited from import stateside by economic sanctions.

Foreign-made goods sent to the U.S. may be subject to the payment of duty. Even if items are bought in a military exchange store, the recipient may still have to pay duty and the customs user fee. U.S. residents may receive up to $100 worth of foreign-made goods per day, but have to pay duty on the total value of gifts exceeding that amount.

A customs declaration must be affixed to every package going to the U.S., and falsifying it is a federal crime.

There's much more to know about shipping items to and from Europe so it's important to stay informed and avoid fees or shipping delays.

Military customs offices can provide more advice on these and other holiday mail questions. There are many informative pamphlets available from Customs and Border Protection and the Department of Agriculture to ensure holiday gifts don't present problems stateside. Information is also available online at www.cbp.gov/travel/international-visitors/kbyg/sending-us or the Know Before You Go pamphlet is available online at www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/travel/id_visa/kbyg/gifts.xml.

Information provided by U.S. Army Europe office of the Provost Marshall Public Affairs, Wiesbaden, Germany.