[captainmuon]

I never get why you actually have to put the ham on the truck.

In a slightly less illogical EU you could just go to the appropriate EU committe, and get an exception where you send the ham on a "virtual trip". Just proove that you payed the cost of shipment. The ham benefits, the environment benefits, everybody wins.

I would even go further and introduce a legal principle. Every law that can be circumvented by a ridiculous trick is either void, or the loophole has to be closed.

[function_seven]

> Every law that can be circumvented by a ridiculous trick is either void, or the loophole has to be closed.

California did something like this with window tint violations. It's illegal to have your windows tinted darker than some amount. In the old days, if you were ticketed for this, it would be a "Fix It" ticket. You get the tint removed, have a cop sign off that the violation was corrected, and pay some nominal fine. ($25, I think)

Almost everyone who got one of these tickets would have the tint peeled off, the ticket cleared, and be back at the tint shop the next day to get it put back on. If you like your tint, then true cost of the ticket was $225 or whatever.

Now the ticket gives you an option! You can still correct the violation, have it signed off, and pay the fee, or you can pay a larger fine and not have to demonstrate that you've cured the violation. They probably figured if the driver was going to go through the expense of removing and reapplying the tint, the state might as well see that money.

Wasn't really a loophole, per se, but it was a circumvention that the state decided to eliminate buy allowing you to buy an indulgence :)

[sokoloff]

Some tint shops responded to this loss of revenue by offering “tint guarantees” where you could have tint reapplied for some period of time for half price.

The game over here in New England is getting a statement of medical accommodation from an eye doctor asserting that bright sun is uncomfortable but you have no other limitations.

[throaway46546]

I have heard you can just bribe a cop to sign it off and you don't have to have it removed at all.

[withinboredom]

I had a drug dealer friend with a cop as a roommate. The cop “didn’t know” but he “loved to help out friends of friends.” It was entirely comical over at their house.

[wiseleo]

That sounds like a screenplay :)

[function_seven]

I've never heard of outright bribes, but plenty of people have a cop as a family member or friend who'd gladly fix the fix-it ticket for you. At the time I got mine, I didn't have that option. I paid the fine.

[jorams]

> In a slightly less illogical EU

This has approximately nothing to do with the EU. Norway is not in the EU and not in the EU Customs Union.

[taspeotis]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Economic_Area

> The European Economic Area (EEA) was established via the Agreement on the European Economic Area, an international agreement which enables the extension of the European Union's single market to member states of the European Free Trade Association. The EEA links the EU member states and three EFTA states (Iceland, Liechtenstein, and *Norway*) into an internal market governed by the same basic rules.

[magicalhippo]

We have our own customs rules though. The proper EU members are all bound by the EU customs TARIC[1] while Norway has its own[2].

The EEA limits what we can do with our own customs tariff though.

[1]: https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/business/calculation-c...

[2]: https://tolltariffen.toll.no/tolltariff?language=en