Will I get into Sweden with the souvenirs listed?

Upvote:4

You risk significant penalties if you fail to declare items which you clearly know that you have in your baggage and which might even just possibly be covered by the rules.

You clearly know you have the snakes and the sand, so you'd have no defence there.

Sand MIGHT be deemed to be soil on a bad day in poor light by a customs officer with a hangover - and if so what YOU have decided becomes irrelevant. Chances are they can irradiate or otherwise deal with the sand samples if they care. It's reasonably possible that they will not care about them, but letting them decide is the safest option.

The snakes CLEARLY fail the "animal matter" test. "But it's sealed" may as well be "But it's blue" or "But it's pretty". ie Yes, And ?
Animal matter is animal matter and they will make subsequent decisions. The two main issues are probably disease and protected species.

  • If there is a prospect that the snakes are protected there will be lists available that will let you check.

  • Being sealed and being intended for another final destination MAY make the difference re animal matter issues - but they will insist on being the ones who decide.

Once customs decide that you have lied or hidden something they become very attentive.
Try hard not to let this happen.

I have found that a policy of maximum declaration of possibly suspect items works well. While this may increase your customs processing time it ensures you do not have to undergo a total baggage search, or worse, once they discover the Cobras.

Did you pack your ownbags ?

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Upvote:6

Generally speaking, if in doubt, you are supposed to declare the goods and ask customs officers, not assume it's OK until you get caught. Customs officers are not likely to look for pretexts to ignore the rules.

Unless you are absolutely sure it's OK to import sand and bottled snakes in the EU, then you need to put it on any declaration form you have to fill in and go through the red lane. Customs officers will then decide if it's allowed or not. It does not mean mean everything will be confiscated but pretending you have nothing to declare because you are not sure is definitely not an excuse if you do get caught.

Note that if you chose to omit something, figuring out how the rules apply to your case is your responsibility. Even merely walking through the green lane with an item that's forbidden could be treated as a false declaration.

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