Brussels - European commissioners will continue to enjoy huge tax-free allowances when duty-free shopping is abolished in the EU next summer. The 20 commissioners will be able to buy 400 litres of table wine without paying duty. They can add 90 litres of spirits and 20,000 cigarettes to their tax-free shopping.
To consume the full amount - since they are not allowed to sell it on - each would have to drink 10 bottles and 50 double measures of spirits a week and smoke 55 cigarettes a day.
To help carry the tax-free haul, commissioners are also allowed 5,000 litres of duty-free fuel for a first car and 2,000 litres for a second car.
They are exempt because they enjoy diplomatic status under the Vienna conventions of 1961, according to reports. Commissioners and other diplomats who use the full entitlement on cigarettes, whisky and petrol would save £55,729 a year, compared with duty-paid products bought in Britain.
The commissioners, who enjoy salaries of around £130,000 a year, can choose from a Brussels showroom packed with taxfree luxuries and have the goods delivered to their preferred addresses.