Not french. Before I was turkish now german then… It’s seems nationality is important to u?
Why continue? We will never agree here. We just may be rude to each other, so better stop .
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FR My point was only to say that in different countries there are different laws. Some of them strange for some of us. May be that country think that the sand is an important part of their wealth/patrimony/heritage. Who knows?
1 year in jail in these countries may destroy a life. Tourists can’t know all the laws of each country, specially that one, where in France it’s common to take some send as “souvenir “.
You are absolutely right. In France.
I’m sure in France there are laws that are “strange” or unknown in other countries, but that do not exempts foreigners to comply with them.
In my former job I had to travel to many countries. I was always afraid of doing something “wrong” specially in muslim and asian countries.
Nothing against muslims/asian or muslim/asian countries, it’s my problem not having a better understanding of their cultures, languages included.
Absolutely. 1 year in jail in any country will destroy your life, mine and the one of most people in the world, not to say in countries where jails are a hell’s branch office.
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Pinching a bit of sand as a memento is no big deal in the grand scheme of things. In the same way that one drop of rain is inconsequential when it lands on your head. One thousand drops of rain on your head and you become drenched. This particular couple did not take a small ‘keepsake’ to remind themselves of what a wonderful holiday that they had just enjoyed. They filled 16 plastic bottles with the sand. Apparently there is a growing industry of selling said sand on ebay and other sites. The authorities are drawing a line in the sand to deter other sand sellers I suspect.
Having been to Sardinia with my family in July maybe I can shed some light on this.
We met a very nice individual from Italy who lives there every year for 2-3 months. In return for daily tennis training he showed us around on the island and brought us to some amazing places.
Indeed, you are not allowed to take anything from the island with you. This is pointed out on several signs, but perhaps still not obvious as it sounds silly, no?
What many people don’t know is that there is a pink beach in Sardinia. People used to take sand from it and all was ok. There is more than enough sand.
But then some folks starting to sell it on the mainland for ridiculous prices. The people from Sardinia did not appreciate that which resulted in this law.
This is of course the story I heard, but it makes sense to me. You simply do not take anything from a place with you. At what point should it become criminal? 1kg? 100kg? 100.000kg? More?
Mind you, these people took 41kg of zand. That is rather ridiculous as a souvenir. Even for the french I would say 
Oops: missed Steve2s comment. Spot on!
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yes, 41 kg is effectively not a “souvenir “. But 1 to 6 year in jail is a bit exaggerated.
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Now we are talking!
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