You’ve fallen for a Moroccan carpet, a pretty leather pouffe, a pair of babouches, a zellige table or a beautiful Safi ceramic. You’ve spent a few hours bargaining, with the help of numerous teapots, and now there’s just one question: how do you take your purchases home?
What can you legally export?
As in most countries, the export of antiques and works of art is subject to authorisation.
This also includes, for example, fossils… if you innocently put some in your luggage, you don’t risk being imprisoned, as in Turkey, but simply having your purchases confiscated. You can bring back around ten ‘ornamental rocks, fossils and/or semi-precious stones’.
When you leave Morocco, you can export without customs formalities:
- Products of Moroccan origin (handicrafts or other) purchased locally, with no limit on value. Proof of payment must be provided by any appropriate means (exchange slip, international credit card, traveller’s cheque, etc.).
- Travel souvenirs
- Ornamental rocks, fossils and/or semi-precious stones (provided there are no more than a dozen)
For the rest (antiques, works of art), to be able to export them without risk, you must obtain an authorisation to leave the country by having a certificate issued by the Department of Culture, in the Ministry of Youth, Culture and Communication. (1, Rue Ghandi, Rabat – 0537209400).
What you cannot legally export under any circumstances
Carrying even a very small amount of cannabis, in whatever form, is totally illegal and can be very unpleasant. Moroccan customs often use sniffer dogs, so sort through your belongings before you leave and resist the urge to export such souvenirs.
Similarly, if an inspection of your luggage reveals those wonderful Louis Vuitton trainers you bought for 10 euros at the souk, they will be confiscated and you may even have to pay a fine.
Duty-free and customs-free exports
To clarify things: duty-free exports are exports from Morocco where the VAT paid at the time of purchase is refunded. Customs-free exports are goods that you can import tax-free on arrival.
VAT refunds
Allow plenty of time, take your invoices with you and ask for them at the customs office at your airport or border crossing.
Duty-free entry in Schengen territory
It covers minimal quantities of alcohol (but who would buy alcohol in Morocco?), perfumes and gifts ‘for loved ones’.
For entry into Europe, duty-free allowances vary according to the age of the traveller and the mode of transport:
| Transportation | Travellers under 15 |
Travellers over 15 |
| Plane or boat | 150 € | 430 € |
| Other (car, car on ferry, train…) | 150 € | 300 € |
So a family of four – two parents, a baby and a ten-year-old child – can bring a total value of €1,460 back to one’s country by air.
This allowance includes bottles of alcohol and cigarettes, which can only be imported tax-free by people over the age of 17.
For tobacco or alcohol purchased in a duty-free shop, the maximum per person is :
- tobacco: 200 cigarettes or 100 cigarillos or 50 cigars or 250g of tobacco (or a pro rata mixture)
- alcohol: 4 litres of wine (not sparkling) or 16 litres of beer or 1 litre of alcohol over 22° or 2 litres of alcohol under 22° (or a pro rata mixture)
How to transport your purchases
Transporting yourself: plane or car
At the price of excess baggage, if you’re flying home, a nice big carpet will cost you quite a lot! And you may lose the savings you made by bargaining fiercely for it.
If you’re flying, you should also pay attention to the restrictions on items in the cabin (liquids, size and weight of objects). The packaging must be particularly strong to withstand being placed in the hold.
And you can’t take the zellige table or fountain home yourself!
Have the seller transport the goods
Craftsmen usually ship their customers’ purchases themselves. Transport will be by road, and will be much cheaper than a kilo of luggage on a plane! They will also take care of all the customs formalities for you.
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