New EU customs rules in December 2008

[Claude]

I've just found out from the german customs website that the EU customs rules will be changed as on December 1, 2008. The current custom-free order limit of 22€ will be replaced with 150€ !

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUri...001:0002:EN:PDF

http://www.zoll.de/a0_aktuelles/azr_kleins...ngen/index.html

[Niko]

thank you Claude!

[A Lark Ascending]

Yippee!!!!

No more holding breath for the Mosaic to arrive only to be greeted with a card saying please collect and pay customs (+ handling fee!).

[king ubu]

let's hope them swizzers will do their usual "autonomer nachvollzug" on this, too, but I guess they won't... everyone is just protecting their own little gardens... liberals, ha ha! the most liberal party here is the social democrats!

[king ubu]

let's hope them swizzers will do their usual "autonomer nachvollzug" on this, too, but I guess they won't... everyone is just protecting their own little gardens... liberals, ha ha! the most liberal party here is the social democrats!

that is economically spoken, too - not just as far as society is concerned (societal? is that word to use?)

[Swinging Swede]

This was not published on 1 April, was it?

Thanks for the good news. A low dollar and no added charges. Think of the possibilities!

[sidewinder]

(Rhys Ivans voice..) Thank you God

This news has made my day - roll on Dec !

Edited April 9, 2008 by sidewinder

[EKE BBB]

Yippee!!!!

No more holding breath for the Mosaic to arrive only to be greeted with a card saying please collect and pay customs (+ handling fee!).

Yeah!

Prez, Hampton, Chu Berry... there I go!

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

YAY!!!!!!!

I don't object so much to paying the VAT, it's the goddamn Royal Mail standard handling charge of a fiver that REALLY gets me.

Quick calculations in head, that's about £110, ain't it?

MG

[sidewinder]

£120, at the current paltry rate of £1 = Euro 0.8.

Just enough for a couple of big boxes and a Mosaic single..

[Claude]

Possibly bad news: the german customs administration has withdrawn it's announcement. It could be that it was a misinterpretation of the new rules on their part, that the 150€ limit would only concern the customs duties but not VAT, which is the major part of what needs to be paid when importing goods.

Other customs administrations did not make any announcements. I've read the regulations but it's quite difficult to understand. It all depends if VAT falls under the definition of "import duties". The germans thought so, because they call VAT on imported goods an "import VAT", while other countries don't seem to make this distinction.

‘import duties’ means customs duties and charges having equivalent effect and also agricultural levies and other import charges provided for under the common agricultural policy or under specific arrangements applicable to certain goods resulting from the processing of agricultural products;

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUri...20040501:EN:PDF

They still have 6 months left to clear things up ...

[sidewinder]

Damn !

Edited May 10, 2008 by sidewinder

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Snigger.

We REALLY need a snigger smiley.

MG