The Bulgarian Customs Agency has announced on Friday that, with immediate effect, new limits have been imposed on personal imports of tobacco products by travelers from outside the European Union.

They will be restricted to free import limits of 40 normal cigarettes or 10 cigars or 20 cigarillos or 50 gm smoking tobacco.

The new limits apply to people passing through land, sea and river borders with non-EU countries. For Bulgaria, this includes Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey.

For passengers traveling by air, the duty-free limits remain unchanged: 200 cigarettes or 50 cigars or 100 cigarillos, or 250 gm smoking tobacco.

The Customs Agency stated that a reduction of thresholds for the import of tobacco products is necessary because of their low prices in neighboring non-EU countries.

The goal is to eliminate the practise of importing large quantities of cigarettes by repeatedly crossing the state border, with those cigarettes then being sold illegally on the domestic market.

Duty thresholds are unchanged for alcoholic beverages transported by land, sea or river borders. Passengers may carry one liter of alcohol and two liters of beverages with an alcohol content less than 22%. There is no limit for still wines and beers.