Eea And Eu

[KARL]

I am looking for a reliably correct understanding of what the position is regarding the sending of parcels to a country within the EU from a country outside the EU but within the EEA. In particular, is that parcel, sent by a private individual to a private individual recipient and marked "gift", normally subject to customs scrutiny as to the value of the contents (hardware for an outside door) on arrival in the destination country ? Further, if customs are invited to open the parcel for inspection of the contents to confirm the description and rule out contraband, would it be consistent with normal interpretation of EEA treaties to continue to insist on an invoice for the contents before releasing the parcel for delivery ?

[Buenchico]

The Royal Mail website shows that posting packages to and from any country outside of the EU requires a CN22 customs declaration to be completed. i.e. packages sent from within the EU to Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein are treated in exactly the same way as those sent to China, Australia, etc (and vice versa).

Knowingly importing an item which you've purchased from a non-EU country where it is marked as a 'gift' is a criminal offence which, at the very least, will result in the seizure of the item.

See sections 2.1, 2.3, 2.4, 2.8 and 4.2 here:
http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&propertyType=document&_pageLabel=pageTravel_ShowContent&;id=HMCE_CL_000014#P186_19100

Chris

[KARL]

I have asked my friend to call for the parcel to be returned to him - the whole matter has dragged on for a nonsensical time and is too silly for words. Why is anyone required to present an invoice for a gift they send to someone ? A declaration turns out to be insufficient.