(FORTUNE Magazine) – Those Brits. As word spread that the sun would set on duty-free shopping June 30, her Majesty's subjects were packing onto day cruises to the French port of Calais for a last, glorious buying binge. The P&O Stena Line, which ferries 14 million passengers a year across the English Channel, has reported "brisk bookings" since the EU rejected a final appeal from British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his French counterpart, Lionel Jospin, to preserve duty-free.

These bookings weren't just coming from lager louts. No, these shoppers were God-fearing, tea-sipping Joe and Jane Britpersons. The British love duty-free. Living under heavy taxation of alcohol, cigarettes, and other toxins, they have traditionally flocked to the duty-free stores in Calais to get a 50% discount on a case of Heineken or a bottle of Bordeaux, 40% off a bottle of Chanel No. 5, or 60% or so off a carton of cigarettes.

The demise of duty-free shopping could wipe out 100,000 jobs and an industry with annual sales of $7 billion, says the Duty-Free Confederation, a lobbying group. Cruise lines have threatened higher ticket prices to make up for lost profits--the P&O Stena Line gets an estimated 30% of its cross-channel revenues from shipboard duty-free sales. No, Britannia won't be having any more duty-free "booze cruises" in the Baltic and on the Channel, thanks to the EU rules. As much as her subjects would appreciate it, Britannia cannot waive the rules.

--Jonathan P. Decker