Buyer beware

Date: 04/09/1997

Suits you, sir. Snappily dressed Italian Commissioner Mario Monti recently clarified the duty free rules for MEPs worried about what bargain buys they would be allowed to make on their jaunts outside the Union during the summer break.

No tailoring of the tax-free allowance is permitted by claiming, for example, on the jacket but not the trousers of a suit. It's all or nothing, warned Monti.

Observers should look out for the sartorial consequences of this clarification.