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Customers who frequently order goods from outside the European Union are familiar with the issue: All letter and parcel shipments from non-EU countries that contain goods must be declared to German customs. This is usually handled by Deutsche Post on their behalf.
(Bonn) However, there is often the problem that required information about the goods is missing, particularly regarding the value of the goods. In such cases, Deutsche Post cannot declare the shipments to customs and must send them to the respective local customs office. Customers then have to either pick them up themselves or have previously been able to use the paid service “Subsequent Customs Clearance”. To facilitate the customs declaration of such goods in the future, Deutsche Post will introduce the new service “Valuation” on November 1.
The company offers this service to recipients through a letter in cases where customs declaration is not possible due to missing value information. Customers can then provide Deutsche Post with the necessary proof of the goods’ value before the shipment is forwarded. This ensures faster processing and delivery of the shipment without the detour through one of the local customs offices.
Customs Clearance So Far
In accordance with its mandate as a national postal service provider with the rights and obligations arising from the Universal Postal Convention, Deutsche Post carries out the customs declaration for incoming postal shipments with goods content (letters or parcels) from non-EU countries to German customs. For this, all required information, especially the value of the goods, must be available. Otherwise, customs declaration cannot take place.
So far, shipments for which customs declaration was not possible due to missing value information were usually forwarded to the local customs office responsible for the recipient’s address. Deutsche Post then informed the affected recipients after the forwarding about the deposit of the shipment at the customs office. Additionally, the affected recipients were offered the service “Subsequent Customs Clearance” in case they did not want to pick up the shipment themselves at the customs office. This service cost 28.50 euros.
New Service “Valuation”
For the “Valuation” service, Deutsche Post has now optimized this process. The recipient of an affected postal shipment will be notified by a letter and can then request the service in advance of the shipment’s further transport. This also prevents such shipments from being cumbersome sent back and forth between Deutsche Post and local customs offices.
After successful customs declaration, Deutsche Post will deliver the shipment, with any applicable import duties also being advanced by the post and collected together with the advance fee upon delivery or handover at a branch. A separate invoice will be issued for the “Valuation” service.
The price for this new service, which will be available after a free trial period starting November 14, 2022, is 14.50 euros per shipment. The “Subsequent Customs Clearance” service will gradually be phased out starting November 1.
Photo: © Deutsche Post
