Duty Relief on Your Household Goods Comes From a Union Regulation, Not From Hungary: Twelve Months Abroad Before, Twelve Months to Import After, and Four Things Excluded
Answer
The general rule applies to you
No exception is recorded for citizens of Costa Rica on this topic. That is the answer, not a gap - everything below is the rule you get, unchanged.
172 exceptions recorded across 63 countries · none match Costa Rica to Hungary · Bringing your belongings
Hungary sets no rules of its own here. Council Regulation (EC) No 1186/2009 applies directly in every member state and governs relief for the personal property of a natural person transferring their normal place of residence from a third country into the customs territory of the Union. Article 3 grants the relief subject to articles 4 to 11. Article 4 limits it to property that, except in special cases justified by the circumstances, has been in the person's possession and, for non-consumable goods, used by them at their former normal residence for at least six months before they ceased to have their normal residence in the country of departure, and which is intended for the same use at the new residence; the same article lets member states require that the property bore the customs or fiscal charges normally due in the country of origin or departure. Article 5(1) requires the person's normal residence to have been outside the Union continuously for at least twelve months, with a discretion in article 5(2) where the clear intention was to reside outside for that long. Article 6 excludes four things and only four: alcoholic products, tobacco and tobacco products, commercial means of transport, and articles for use in a trade or profession other than portable instruments of the applied or liberal arts. Article 7(1) requires the goods to be entered for free circulation within twelve months of the person establishing their normal residence in the Union, except in special cases, and article 7(2) allows the goods to arrive in several consignments inside that period.
At a glance
- Time you must have lived outside the Union
- At least 12 continuous months
Article 5(1) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1186/2009, with a discretion in article 5(2) where the intention to do so was clear.
- Time you have to bring the goods in
- 12 months from establishing your normal residence, except in special cases
Article 7(1) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1186/2009. Article 7(2) allows several separate consignments within it.
- How long you must have owned and used the goods
- At least 6 months before you ceased to have your normal residence in the country of departure
Article 4 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1186/2009, except in special cases justified by the circumstances, and for non-consumable goods the test is use as well as possession.
- What is excluded
- 4 categories: alcoholic products, tobacco, commercial means of transport, and trade or professional articles
Article 6 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1186/2009. Portable instruments of the applied or liberal arts are carved out of the fourth.
- Before you move
- Relief may be granted for goods entered before you establish residence, on an undertaking to do so within six months
Article 9(1) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1186/2009, where article 9(2) then runs the article 4(a) period from the date the goods entered the customs territory.
Requirements
- Twelve continuous months of normal residence outside the Union before you move
- Six months of possession and use of the goods at your former residence, and the same intended use at the new one
- Entry for free circulation within twelve months of establishing your normal residence in the Union
What applies to you
Nothing changes for a citizen of Costa Rica
We have no rule recorded that treats your citizenship differently here, so the general rule above is the one that applies to you. That is an answer, not a gap.
What the law says
«Subject to Articles 4 to 11, personal property imported by natural persons transferring their normal place of residence from a third country to the customs territory of the Community shall be admitted free of import duties.»The grant, and it is expressed as subject to seven articles of conditions.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Union's legal database. Publishes each act as adopted in the Official Journal and, separately, a consolidated version carrying every amendment to a stated date, identified as 0YYYYRNNNN-YYYYMMDD. The consolidated text marks each amended passage with the instrument that changed it.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: A consolidated text is explicitly not authentic - EUR-Lex says so on the document - and only the Official Journal version has legal force. It also says nothing about how any member state applies the act: a regulation is directly applicable but the border practice, the evidence an officer may ask for and the national exceptions are in national law, which is published elsewhere.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«The relief shall be limited to personal property which: (a) except in special cases justified by the circumstances, has been in the possession of and, in the case of non-consumable goods, used by the person concerned at his former normal place of residence for a minimum of six months before the date on which he ceases to have his normal place of residence in the third country of departure; (b) is intended to be used for the same purpose at his new normal place of residence. In addition, Member States may make relief conditional upon such property having borne, either in the country of origin or in the country of departure, the customs and/or fiscal charges to which it is normally liable.»Six months of possession, actual use for things that are not consumed, the same purpose at the new home, and a power for the member state to insist the charges were paid somewhere.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Union's legal database. Publishes each act as adopted in the Official Journal and, separately, a consolidated version carrying every amendment to a stated date, identified as 0YYYYRNNNN-YYYYMMDD. The consolidated text marks each amended passage with the instrument that changed it.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: A consolidated text is explicitly not authentic - EUR-Lex says so on the document - and only the Official Journal version has legal force. It also says nothing about how any member state applies the act: a regulation is directly applicable but the border practice, the evidence an officer may ask for and the national exceptions are in national law, which is published elsewhere.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«1. Relief may be granted only to persons whose normal place of residence has been outside the customs territory of the Community for a continuous period of at least 12 months.»Twelve months outside, and a discretion that turns on what the person clearly intended rather than on what happened.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Union's legal database. Publishes each act as adopted in the Official Journal and, separately, a consolidated version carrying every amendment to a stated date, identified as 0YYYYRNNNN-YYYYMMDD. The consolidated text marks each amended passage with the instrument that changed it.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: A consolidated text is explicitly not authentic - EUR-Lex says so on the document - and only the Official Journal version has legal force. It also says nothing about how any member state applies the act: a regulation is directly applicable but the border practice, the evidence an officer may ask for and the national exceptions are in national law, which is published elsewhere.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«No relief shall be granted for: (a) alcoholic products; (b) tobacco or tobacco products; (c) commercial means of transport; (d) articles for use in the exercise of a trade or profession, other than portable instruments of the applied or liberal arts.»A closed list of four. A car for private use is not on it; a commercial means of transport is.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Union's legal database. Publishes each act as adopted in the Official Journal and, separately, a consolidated version carrying every amendment to a stated date, identified as 0YYYYRNNNN-YYYYMMDD. The consolidated text marks each amended passage with the instrument that changed it.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: A consolidated text is explicitly not authentic - EUR-Lex says so on the document - and only the Official Journal version has legal force. It also says nothing about how any member state applies the act: a regulation is directly applicable but the border practice, the evidence an officer may ask for and the national exceptions are in national law, which is published elsewhere.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«1. Except in special cases, relief shall be granted only in respect of personal property entered for free circulation within 12 months from the date of establishment, by the person concerned, of his normal place of residence in the customs territory of the Community. 2. The personal property may be released for free circulation in several separate consignments within the period referred to in paragraph 1.»Twelve months to get the goods in, and permission to do it in stages.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Union's legal database. Publishes each act as adopted in the Official Journal and, separately, a consolidated version carrying every amendment to a stated date, identified as 0YYYYRNNNN-YYYYMMDD. The consolidated text marks each amended passage with the instrument that changed it.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: A consolidated text is explicitly not authentic - EUR-Lex says so on the document - and only the Official Journal version has legal force. It also says nothing about how any member state applies the act: a regulation is directly applicable but the border practice, the evidence an officer may ask for and the national exceptions are in national law, which is published elsewhere.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
Practical notes
Nothing Hungarian was read for this record because the Regulation applies directly and needs no transposition. What a Hungarian customs office asks for by way of evidence was not read.
The excerpts come from the EUR-Lex HTML reading of the Regulation as adopted. A stored PDF reading of the same instrument exists but is captured with the gazette's two columns on one line, so no quotation longer than a line can be taken from it.
Article 11 lets the competent authorities derogate from parts of articles 4, 6 and 8 where a person has to transfer their normal residence because of exceptional political circumstances, and that article was not read in full here.
- consolidatesCouncil Regulation (EC) No 1186/2009
EUR-Lex, Publications Office of the European Union
About this source
The Union's legal database. Publishes each act as adopted in the Official Journal and, separately, a consolidated version carrying every amendment to a stated date, identified as 0YYYYRNNNN-YYYYMMDD. The consolidated text marks each amended passage with the instrument that changed it.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: A consolidated text is explicitly not authentic - EUR-Lex says so on the document - and only the Official Journal version has legal force. It also says nothing about how any member state applies the act: a regulation is directly applicable but the border practice, the evidence an officer may ask for and the national exceptions are in national law, which is published elsewhere.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source