Laptops and personal electronics — what comes in free?

Phones have their own explicit allowance. Most other personal electronics do not — they fall under the general personal-effects principle, which is looser but also vaguer.

The short answer

• One laptop you actually use is the ordinary personal-effects case and is not usually a problem.
• Quantity is the trigger. Several identical new devices stops reading as personal effects.
• Some equipment is restricted regardless of quantity — see prohibited items.
• Phones are not covered by this page; they have a specific allowance in new phone duty.

Personal effects is about use, not category

The question at the desk is not whether a laptop is allowed — obviously it is. It is whether this particular collection of items looks like the belongings of one traveller.

A used laptop, a tablet, headphones, a camera: unremarkable. Four sealed laptops of the same model: an import, whoever they are for.

Presentation matters more than paperwork

For ordinary personal electronics there is rarely a form to fill in. What decides the outcome is how the items present:

• In use, unboxed, with your data on them reads as personal.
• Sealed, boxed, with retail labels reads as goods.

If you are carrying a genuinely new laptop for your own use, that is fine and declarable — but do not be surprised if a sealed box invites a question.

Equipment that needs clearance

Some categories need a permit irrespective of how personal they are. Radio transmitters and drones are the ones that most often catch travellers. Check before you pack rather than at the belt: a restricted item discovered on arrival cannot usually be regularised there.

Batteries and airline rules

Separate from customs entirely, but it ends more trips than duty does: spare lithium batteries and power banks generally must travel in cabin baggage, not checked. That is your airline safety rule and it is enforced at check-in.

Related

• New phone duty
• Prohibited items
• What to pack

What we could not verify

Whether any explicit per-item allowance exists for laptops, tablets or cameras in the current baggage rules, and the permit thresholds for radio equipment and drones. We publish no figures for either. Confirm before you travel if you are carrying more than an ordinary personal set.