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Another Italian question: why did Customs have to be called out at great expense on a Sunday when entering Italy from another Schengen state?

I wrote once or twice here about the case when customs showed up in Bari and checked me on flight from Zagreb to Bari (they were not supposed to do any checks because it was intra-EU flight) but even funnier they showed up (same person) when I landed to Bari arriving from Palermo. Italy is sometimes funny but other than than I have never had any problems neither with airports nor with ATC. Recently I even started to get more and more directs from ATC.

LDZA LDVA, Croatia

Emir wrote:

Recently I even started to get more and more directs from ATC.

Cool..! :)

Yeah baby!
EGTB

@Mooney_Driver

Please elaborate on what you mean with customs clearance? Isn’t it enough to land on an airport with customs and clear on arrival? Do you have to prepare something in advance? (not talking about PPR or similar notification requirements that a phone call can solve).

ESME, ESMS

Isn’t it enough to land on an airport with customs and clear on arrival?

That seems to be what everyone does. You have a flight plan so CH customs presumably knows about you. And in case you don’t have anything to declare you are fine and don’t do anything, otherwise talk to a customs officer.
Of course they might still spot check you anyway but that seems to be rare.

Switzerland

MedFlyer wrote:

Greece,Italy and maybe more countries produce lots of regulations which are so complicated,unexlpicable,equivocal; at the end it is up to each different public servand to translate and implement what he believes best…or even according to his moods.

Sounds a lot like EASA regulations to me

The elephant is the circulation
ENVA ENOP ENMO, Norway

Mooney_Driver wrote:

Then into Switzerland,

Without customs clearance? I hope not. Otherwise once the books of the airfield in question have been forwarded to the central customs office for recheck, you may expect a massive fine. Up to the VAT payable on the value of the airplane!!!

Switzerland is a member of Schengen but NOT of the customs union!! People tend to forget that, but customs here are VERY interested of finding folks who do.

I would think that this statement has just put any pilot off of flying to Switzerland ever

quatrelle wrote:

I would think that this statement has just put any pilot off of flying to Switzerland ever

Would be a shame if so! Just file a flight plan and ensure that customs will be operative at the time of arrival, or whether PN is required to get them there. Like most things in aviation, it pays to play by the rules.

jgmusic
North Weald, United Kingdom

quatrelle wrote:

I would think that this statement has just put any pilot off of flying to Switzerland ever

Not obeying customs and/or immigraton rules will get you in trouble almost everywhere, if found out.
Just because MD knows and thankfully shares his knowledge pointing out the risk, does not make it any harder than in other places where we simply do not know the proceedings ;-)

...
EDM_, Germany

ch.ess wrote:

Just because MD knows and thankfully shares his knowledge pointing out the risk, does not make it any harder than in other places where we simply do not know the proceedings ;-)

Of course, but the very least one can do is to use all available resources and file flight plans etc. If that’s not enough at a given destination, there’s not much one can do about it, but landing anywhere without customs clearance is daft and totally avoidable.

jgmusic
North Weald, United Kingdom

ch.ess wrote:

Not obeying customs and/or immigraton rules will get you in trouble almost everywhere, if found out.

Thats fair enough but not everyone is aware that Switzerland is different in this respect from the rest of Europe.

Lets say (for an example) that you have just paid say 900,000 Euros for a new Cirrus plus tax and have the tax certificate to prove it, (not me) and then fly to Switzerland not knowing the customs rules in intimate detail …. so it apppears that you could then be stuck with another tax bill equal to the tax again ……. am I reading this right?

Sounds like landing is Greece is now quite a bargain compared to this!

jgmusic wrote:

but landing anywhere without customs clearance is daft and totally avoidable.

I totally agree but were you aware of this possible scenario when you landed in Switzerland and had the clearance, if so how was the customs clearance done?

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