Iceland ‘units’ customs quota to hit spirits

The government of Iceland is considering proposals which would base duty free liquor allowances on units of alcohol rather than overall volume, a move set to hit the spirits sector hard.

The Icelandic government is proposing basing duty free allowances on units of alcohol, rather than total volume. Image: Lasse Fuss

Icelandic tourism news site Turisti.is has reported that finance minister Bjarni Benediktsson is calling for a “units system”, whereby passengers would be allowed to purchase the equivalent of six units of duty-free alcohol, regardless of overall volume.

One unit is approximately equivalent to 0.25cl of spirits. A 40% abv spirit in a one litre bottle – an increasingly popular size format in travel retail – would contain 40 units.

Travellers resident outside Iceland may currently bring into the country one litre of duty free spirits bottled at 22% abv or higher.

The parliamentary bill is currently with the government’s Economic Affairs and Trade Committee, with the deadline for official comments set at 29 April.