Knife Laws in Europe: Can You Ship a Knife to Your Country?
Every claim on this page was checked against the official statute texts of each country in July 2026: the actual weapons acts, public order laws and government legal portals, not summaries of summaries. Laws change and enforcement varies, so treat this as orientation, not legal advice, and check your local rules before carrying anything.
One distinction unlocks almost every country below. Owning a knife at home is legal for ordinary knives in every single country we ship to. Carrying it in public is where the rules differ, and most of Europe uses the same logic: you can have a knife on you when a recognized purpose puts it there, such as work, hunting, fishing, sport or outdoor use, and you transport it packed away on the route to and from that purpose. A knife in a rucksack on the way to a campsite and the same knife in a pocket outside a bar are two different legal situations almost everywhere.
A few things about how we operate, so the country sections make sense. We do not stock automatic or OTF knives, balisongs, karambits, push daggers, throwing knives, double-edged daggers or blades disguised as other objects, anywhere, for anyone. Every order requires confirmation that you are 18 or older, which matches or exceeds the legal age rules in each country below. And where a country bans a specific size or type we do sell, our checkout will not offer that item for delivery there.
Shipping and customs
We ship from the Czech Republic, inside the EU. Orders to any EU country move as free circulation goods: no customs, no import duty, no clearance paperwork, and no surprise fees on delivery. Prices already include VAT, so the amount you see at checkout is the amount you pay. Norway and Switzerland sit outside the EU customs territory, so those orders clear customs on arrival and local import VAT and handling fees may apply, charged by the carrier rather than by us. Customs is not a knife rule though: what you can legally receive is decided by the country rules below, and where a country bans something we sell, our checkout will not offer it there.
Austria
At a glance: Own nearly anything at 18+, carry is broadly free outside designated ban zones, no blade length limits.
Owning: Ordinary knives, including one-hand opening and locking folders, are utility objects rather than weapons, with no length limits. Even most weapon-classified types are legal for adults. Blades disguised as everyday objects are prohibited.
Carrying: Broadly free. The exceptions are designated weapons-ban zones, such as parts of Vienna, and rules around public events.
Shipping: Everything in our catalog ships to Austria at 18+.
Belgium
At a glance: Daggers and locking folders are legal to own at 18+, carrying needs a legitimate reason, autos and butterfly knives are banned.
Owning: Automatic and gravity knives, butterfly knives, throwing knives and stars, sword canes and disguised blades are prohibited weapons. Everything else, daggers and locking folders included, is a free-sale weapon adults may own.
Carrying: A legitimate reason is required in public, such as work, hunting or fishing.
Shipping: Everything we stock ships; the prohibited categories are not in our range.
Bulgaria
At a glance: No national knife law exists, owning and carrying is free, a few cities restrict weapon-type blades locally.
Owning: No national law regulates knives, a position confirmed by the courts: no banned types, no permits.
Carrying: Free at state level. A few city ordinances restrict carrying weapon-type blades in public, and courts read them narrowly, so ordinary knives are unaffected. Common sense still applies.
Shipping: Everything ships.
Croatia
At a glance: Ordinary knives are free to own and carry, attack-purpose items like daggers and automatic knives are banned outright.
Owning: Ordinary folders and fixed blades are legal. Possessing attack-purpose cold weapons is an offence in itself: daggers, button-operated automatic knives of any blade length, hidden blades, throwing stars and knuckledusters. Carrying: Legal for ordinary knives. Carrying any injury-suited object in circumstances suggesting attack is an offence. Shipping: Everything we stock ships; the banned categories are not in our range.
Czech Republic
At a glance: No restrictions at all, any knife is legal to own and carry.
Owning: Any knife, any length, any mechanism.
Carrying: Legal without restriction. Ordinary criminal law covers misuse, nothing more.
Shipping: Everything. This is our home market.
Denmark
At a glance: Own freely, carry only with a recognized purpose, no small-blade exemption, blades over 12 cm need a purpose-built design.
Owning: Ordinary knives are legal, one-hand folders since 2016. Blades over 12 cm are fine when the knife is designed for and used in household, hunting, fishing or sport, otherwise a police permit is needed. Automatic, gravity, butterfly and push dagger types are permit items.
Carrying: Publicly accessible places require a recognized purpose: trade, hunting, fishing, sport or similar. No small-blade exemption exists in the current law, the often quoted 7 cm rule is from the pre-2016 act.
Shipping: Ordinary knives of all sizes ship, including hunting and outdoor designs over 12 cm. The permit categories are not in our range.
Estonia
At a glance: Everyday knives are unregulated, hunting knives are 18+ by statute, no general carry ban.
Owning: Everyday knives sit outside the Weapons Act. Hunting and diving knives are freely sold with a hard statutory 18+ rule. Knuckle knives, hidden blades, and spring or gravity ejected locking blades over 8.5 cm or double-edged are prohibited.
Carrying: No general ban for ordinary knives; public order rules apply.
Shipping: Everything we stock ships. Our 18+ confirmation is a legal requirement here, not just store policy.
Finland
At a glance: Own and import ordinary knives of any size, public carry needs work or another acceptable reason.
Owning: Unrestricted for ordinary knives of any size.
Carrying: Prohibited in public places unless your work or another acceptable reason requires it. A puukko on a hiking trail is normal, the same knife in a city bar is an offence.
Shipping: Ordinary knives import freely. Stilettos, throwing stars and disguised blades are import-banned and not in our range.
France
At a glance: Own anything at 18+, carrying or transporting without a legitimate reason is an offence, no length limit exists in law.
Owning: Free for adults, category D, with no blade length limit anywhere in the law.
Carrying: Carrying or transporting a knife without a legitimate reason is an offence, up to a year in prison, and police can issue an on-the-spot 500 euro fine with confiscation. Work, hunting, fishing and outdoor activities count, so travel packed and with a purpose.
Shipping: Everything ships to France at 18+.
Germany
At a glance: Own anything ordinary, one-hand locking folders and fixed blades over 12 cm travel locked away or with a recognized reason.
Owning: Unrestricted for ordinary knives, large fixed blades and one-hand folders included. Switchblades, butterfly knives, gravity knives, push daggers and disguised blades are prohibited outright.
Carrying: One-hand opening folders that lock, and fixed blades over 12 cm, may not be carried accessible in public. Transport them in a closed container that takes more than three movements to open, or have a recognized reason: work, hunting, sport, tradition. Knives are also banned at public events, on long-distance trains and in state-designated zones.
Shipping: All ordinary knives ship; the prohibited types are not in our range.
Greece
At a glance: Purpose decides everything, use-justified knives are ordinary goods with no length limit.
Owning: Knives justified by household, professional, hunting, fishing or artistic use are ordinary goods with no length limit. Outside those uses, and for stilettos and weapon daggers, the full weapons regime applies.
Carrying: Lawful when the context matches the use. A fillet knife in a tackle box is a tool, the same blade without context is a weapon.
Shipping: Purpose-built knives ship without import licences; weapon-type blades are not in our range.
Hungary
At a glance: Own freely at home, blades over 8 cm are carry-restricted in public, transport packed and with a reason.
Owning: Unrestricted at home.
Carrying: Blades over 8 cm may not be possessed in public areas, including vehicle interiors there, or on public transport, except for work, sport, hunting, tradition or everyday purposes, and then carried packed and concealed.
Shipping: Ordinary knives of any size ship. Switchblades and throwing stars are distribution-restricted and not in our range.
Ireland
At a glance: Own freely at home, public carry needs a good reason, work and recreation are statutory defences, machetes are import-banned.
Owning: Legal at home.
Carrying: Any blade or pointed article in public is an offence unless you have a good reason, and Irish law explicitly lists use at work and recreational use as defences, which matters for anglers, hunters and outdoor users.
Shipping: Flick knives, butterfly knives, push daggers, swordsticks, disguised blades and machetes are banned from import and sale, so those categories are never available for Irish orders. Everything else ships.
Italy
At a glance: The strictest carry rules in Europe since 2026, home ownership stays free, sellers must verify buyers are 18+.
Owning: Free for adults, collecting included.
Carrying: Since April 2026, carrying a blade over 8 cm, or any locking or one-hand opening folder with a blade of 5 cm or more, without a justified reason is a criminal offence carrying up to three years. Hunting, work and outdoor activity count as justified reasons, and transporting packed to and from them is the accepted practice. Switchblades from 5 cm, butterfly knives and disguised blades cannot be carried under any justification.
Shipping: Everything we stock ships. Italian law obliges sellers to check that buyers are adults.
You will be asked to confirm that you are 18 or older before completing your order.
Latvia
At a glance: Utility knives are unregulated, weapon-type knives are 18+ with activity-bound carry, nothing is banned outright.
Owning: Utility knives are ordinary goods. Knives designed as weapons may be owned from 18. No knife type is banned outright.
Carrying: Weapon-type knives only for the matching activity: hunting or fishing while doing it, sport at competitions and training, or official cultural events, and never carried openly.
Shipping: Everything ships at 18+.
Lithuania
At a glance: Ordinary knives are free to own and carry, only large, narrow or double-edged automatic knives are banned.
Owning: Ordinary knives are outside the weapons law. Automatic knives are prohibited only when the blade exceeds 8.5 cm, is narrower than 14 mm at its centre, or is double-edged.
Carrying: Legal for ordinary knives, with general public order rules as the limit.
Shipping: Everything we stock ships; we sell no automatic knives of any kind.
Netherlands
At a glance: Category I types and folders over 28 cm open are fully banned including import, the rest is own at 18+ and carry with care.
Owning: Stilettos, gravity and butterfly knives, push daggers, throwing stars, ballistic knives, disguised blades, and any folding knife with more than one cutting edge or longer than 28 cm when open are completely banned, import included. Multi-edged blades and swords may be owned at 18 but not carried in public.
Carrying: Be conservative: any knife can be treated as a weapon when circumstances suggest it is meant to injure or threaten.
Shipping: Folders over 28 cm open length are blocked for Dutch orders. Everything else we stock ships.
Norway
At a glance: Public carry is banned without a worthy purpose, blades from 25 cm including machetes are restricted, autos and balisongs are prohibited.
Owning: Ordinary knives are legal. Switchblades, butterfly knives and stilettos are banned to acquire, own and import, with daggers read into the stiletto category and spring-assisted folders treated as switchblades by Norwegian courts. Since June 2021, knives with a blade of 25 cm or more, machetes included, may only be acquired and owned in connection with work, business, outdoor life, household use, sport, cultural activities or another worthy purpose.
Carrying: Banned in public places, fine or up to a year, unless work, outdoor life or another worthy purpose applies. Even a multitool on a belt in town is caught; a packed knife en route to the woods is the lawful pattern.
Shipping: Blades of 25 cm and over, and assisted-opening knives, are blocked for Norwegian orders because we cannot verify a buyer's purpose from here. Ordinary knives ship and clear Norwegian customs.
Poland
At a glance: Own and carry anything except disguised blades, with mass events off limits.
Owning: Everything except blades hidden inside objects that do not look like weapons, which require a permit.
Carrying: Legal at any length. Knives are banned at mass events, and carrying one in circumstances pointing to criminal intent is an offence.
Shipping: Everything ships.
Portugal
At a glance: Blades of 10 cm and under are unregulated, bigger ones need a legitimate purpose, combat-only types are banned.
Owning: Blades of 10 cm and under sit outside the weapon definition entirely. Longer knives are lawful with a clear legitimate purpose: hunting, kitchen, outdoor, professional or domestic use. Combat-only types, automatic, butterfly and throwing knives, stilettos and disguised blades, are prohibited.
Carrying: A bigger blade in public without a justified purpose is a criminal matter, so match the knife to the activity.
Shipping: Everything we stock ships; keep the intended use of larger blades in mind.
Romania
At a glance: Knives are tools and free to own, carry with a reason and never to gatherings or onto public transport.
Owning: Knives are tools under Romanian law and free to own. Double-edged guarded daggers over 15 cm fall under the weapons regime.
Carrying: Carrying a knife or dagger without right, in circumstances that could endanger people or disturb public order, is a crime, and doing so in public institutions, at public gatherings or on public transport is treated more severely. Transport purchases packed and direct.
Shipping: Everything we stock ships; we sell no double-edged blades.
Slovakia
At a glance: No knife restrictions, carrying is legal, only threatening circumstances are penalized.
Owning: All types are legal.
Carrying: Legal. Carrying a blade in public in a manner suggesting it may be used for violence can be fined as a public order offence; normal transport and use is untouched.
Shipping: Everything ships.
Slovenia
At a glance: Ordinary knives are free to own and carry, only disguised blades, spring daggers and butterfly daggers are banned.
Owning: Ordinary knives, locking folders included, are not weapons. Knuckledusters, blades concealed in everyday objects, spring-ejected daggers and butterfly daggers are prohibited. Plain daggers came off the prohibited list in a 2021 amendment.
Carrying: Legal, with public order law and a case-by-case rule against objects adapted for attack as the outer limits.
Shipping: Everything we stock ships.
Spain
At a glance: Folders to 11 cm and fixed blades are legal at 18+, daggers and autos are banned, carrying outside home, work or sport is prohibited.
Owning: Folding knives with blades up to 11 cm, fixed blades and other non-prohibited types are legal at 18+. Daggers of any kind, automatic knives and disguised blades are prohibited. Folders with blades over 11 cm are banned from ordinary sale and possession.
Carrying: Prohibited outside your home, your workplace or the sporting activity the knife serves, judged case by case on the spot. Keep blades at home or at the activity.
Shipping: Folders with blades over 11 cm are blocked for Spanish orders. Fixed blades over 11 cm are not caught by that rule and ship normally.
Sweden
At a glance: Own and import freely, public carry needs a justified purpose, switchblades cannot be sold and are banned under 21.
Owning: Unrestricted at home for ordinary knives of any size. Switchblades cannot be offered for sale at all and cannot be possessed by anyone under 21, with throwing stars and street-fighting weapons in the same class.
Carrying: Banned in public places, on school grounds and in vehicles in public places unless justified: work, hunting, fishing and legitimate outdoor use count. The purpose rule is actively enforced.
Shipping: Ordinary knives of any size import freely and ship; the restricted classes are not in our range.
Switzerland
At a glance: Manual knives are free to own and carry sensibly, autos, assisted openers, balisongs, symmetric daggers and throwing knives cannot be imported.
Owning: Everything manual is fine: one-hand folders without spring assist, locking folders and fixed hunting and outdoor knives are not weapons and are free to own. Knives that open by a one-hand automatic or spring-assisted mechanism and measure over 12 cm opened with a blade over 5 cm, butterfly knives at the same sizes, and daggers and throwing knives with symmetric blades between 5 and 30 cm are weapons whose acquisition and import are prohibited, with only cantonal exception permits, and buying or importing one risks up to three years.
Carrying: Common sense territory: any knife carried abusively, without a comprehensible reason, can be seized as a dangerous object. Carry with your purpose.
Shipping: Assisted-opening knives are blocked for Swiss orders. Everything manual ships and clears Swiss customs.
Last verified against official sources in July 2026. This page is general information, not legal advice. National rules change and local rules can add to them, so if you are unsure what you may carry and where, check with your local authorities. If you spot a change we have missed, tell us and we will fix it.
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