Originally Posted by
WorldLux
And how do you access your checked baggage when you're transiting? Either you have it checked thru and you will only be able to access it at your final destination, at which point you will (at least theoretically) already have paid due duties on the items in your carry-on or you'll have to recheck your bags during transit, which means that you have to carry all your things thru customs and check them in (in turn you get labels with green stripes).
I'm not accessing it while transiting, I am accessing it after I got it off the belt at my final destination and before heading out of customs.
Originally Posted by
WorldLux
And how that person has to go thru customs too. So you won't be able to avoid customs. If however they let you thru with your carry-on without checking, you could swap carry-on with an passenger traveling within Schengen, who could upon arrival pass customs without being checked (thanks in parts to the two green stripes on the luggage label).
Yes, of course that person will go through customs too, no problem there still, if I bring in say 2 packets of smokes while only allowed one, and that other person doesn't smoke, then he can take one packet through customs for me, there is nothing illegal about it.
Whether this takes place prior to entering Schengen or when leaving the airport at the destination makes none the difference, does it?
Originally Posted by
Bigzamboni
We aren't talking just goods here. There are some areas where the system of hand luggage being checked at point of entry and checked luggage at destination play a more important role, such as transporting cash. Not likely to be in the checked baggage. Yes, someone with more than 10,000€ could try handing something off to someone waiting in the bathroom or whatever to then have less than 10k, etc. But with *no* checks at point of entry it becomes even easier for smuggling of cash.
But again, this bathroom transaction can take place before entering Schengen in the same way it can take place before leaving the destination airport, the again unless this customs check is really enforced in all transit airports within the EU, it is meaningless. I can't comment anything about airports in Germany since I never connected there, but take CDG or FCO as recent examples, there is not even a hint that someone should declare anything...