Laos customs

Free import

• 500 cigarettes or
• 100 cigars or
• 500 grammes of tobacco
• 2 bottles of wine
• 1 bottle of other alcoholic beverages
• 500 grammes personal jewellery
• The equivalent of up to 500USD can be legally enter or leave the country but must be declared at the customs department and should be exchanged at banks or exchange bureaus upon entry. All local currency is completely prohibited from entering or leaving the country.

Prohibited

• Illegal drugs
• Weapons, Explosives and ammunition
• Chemicals and fertilizers
• Fuel Oil
• Plant and plant products
• Knives and deadly weapons
• Live Animals
• Right driving cars
• Medicine
• Any written or recorded material which could be judged to be against the public interest
• Household materials older than 50 years
• Counterfeit money and goods
• Images of God and Buddha – unless permission has been obtained
• Pornographic material

Restricted

• There is a 10 USD Embarkation Tax levied on all passengers leaving Laos on an international flight. Travellers heading for a domestic location will need to pay a 5,000 LAK tax.
• All weapons and ammunition are restricted unless permission has been obtained from the Ministry of Commerce beforehand.
• Any receivers or transmitters through satellites, internet, equipment for radio broadcasting and television stations are restricted unless permission has been granted from the ministry of Information and Culture.
• Any games or material which is judged to negatively affect the morality and wellbeing of the children and teenagers inside the country could be removed by the customs department.
• Images of Buddha and god made from copper, glass, wooden, bone, ivory, stone and other materials will also require permission from the Ministry of Information and Culture to be granted entry to enter or leave the country.