Austrian customs carried out package checks at a forwarding company based at Vienna Airport and found a whopping 1.140 e-cigarettes of various flavors in consignments addressed to private individuals.

The Ministry of Finance assumes that the goods are not for private use, but that the mail order ban on tobacco products and import duties should be circumvented by splitting them up into numerous individual shipments. The customs officers working at Vienna Airport first found what they were looking for at the beginning of March 2022, confiscated 900 pieces and that was not enough: at the beginning of April, the customs officers came across another shipment with around 140 e-cigarettes.

The confiscated products are ready-to-smoke disposable e-cigarettes with an estimated value of between 5 and 10 euros each. Despite the fact that the shipments were addressed to private individuals, it can be assumed that the e-cigarettes should have been sold in Austria based on the quantities of goods. However, due to the attentive action of the customs authorities, the illegally imported goods could be confiscated.

“Our customs officers have once again proven their skills and commitment. Through their conscientious work, they contribute every day to protecting our business location, but also the people in Austria. These cases show this very impressively: distortion of competition and trade in illegally imported goods could be prevented, and at the same time consumers were protected from these goods. Because the tobacco and non-smokers protection law prohibits the mail order sale of tobacco products not without reason. Adolescents and adults cannot be adequately protected in this way, since neither the age of the consumer can be checked nor whether the products contain other harmful components than nicotine. Our customs officers have once again made an important contribution to protecting Austria and our society," said Finance Minister Magnus Brunner.

In addition to the confiscation and destruction of the goods, the recipients must also expect an administrative fine of 7.500 euros. In the event of a repeat offense, this range of penalties can even be doubled.