import a 2 stroke from Australia to UK?

[Mattwi]

hi there,

I have been living in Australia for the last 11 years but heading back to the UK later this year for good.
I have only just found out ( via this forum ) that new 2 strokes have been banned over there. Does anyone know if I can import mine from Australia as part of my personal effects?

thanks

[C-NUMB]

Hi
I would check with a UK embassy in Australia, they will know(or check it for You) for sure. General EU rule would say no, You cant, but there might be national specific exceptions for personal effects so better to check.

[Channel Ribs]

I don't think there are any restrictions on owning one! Only on selling them to non commercial users.

[Cookee]

Obviously worth checking but I would have thought it would be fine - it's not new and it's your property.

[C-NUMB]

I don't say I am right so worth checking. Did check this issue rather carefully at the stage a few years ago when boats in the US seams to be very cheap. Studied it also with various delivery terms(point of ownership transfer). The EU regulation focus on when the item is entering the EU market the first time and who is bringing it to the market. Even a private person will suddenly take the role of "importer" with all obligations accordingly when importing stuff that is not originally CE marked. This regulation is in my personal opinion totally nuts!

I don't know how big is the chance that the custom would check this out in real life in UK, maybe not so big ? Assuming You take Your belongings in a container, would they really check everything, no idea.

The crazy thing is that when working overseas an buying a car, that You can take home as personal belongings(in most eu countries) but not a newish 3 hp 2 stroke?!

But lets hop that national implementation in such cases is more flexible than the strict EU regulation.

[Dirk Diggler]

I've brought 2 strokes in from the USA, both new and used, and the customs and excise are only interested in duty and vat, no questions what so ever about CE regs.

It's not illegal to own, and they can still be bought new in the UK from Barrus etc. Can still be used commercially over here, and the armed forces, RNLI etc are still allowed to use them.

On a slightly different note, here's a pic of one of a couple of 2005 75hp 2 strokes that have just been bought from the RNLI.