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05.01.2021
Following the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union, the conditions for the exchange of postal items with that country within the EU have changed as of the 1st of January 2021. Latvijas Pasts, in collaboration with the State Revenue Service (SRS), has compiled frequently asked questions and answers about the changes. Detailed information on conditions of applying taxes to postal items from the UK after Brexit and on the customs clearance is available on the website of the State Revenue Service here; phone: +371 67120000. Regarding other matters, Latvijas Pasts asks you to contact the company’s Customer Centre on +371 27008001, +371 67008001 or info@pasts.lv.
Q. Will customs clearance be required also for orders placed in December but arriving in January?
A. If postal items were dispatched from the UK before the 31st of December 2020 and they managed to cross the EU border (in any Member State), they are considered as postal items of Union goods. Such items will not need to be cleared through customs.
If postal items were dispatched from the UK before the 31st of December 2020 as Union goods but they entered the Union after that date, i.e. in the first days of January 2021, they will be subject to the “transition period condition” (depending on the type of the postal item transfer). For example, a transport document (air waybill) will serve as proof that the item was dispatched from the UK before the 31st of December 2020.
If, however, an item is delivered to Latvia by a land vehicle that did not manage to cross the UK-EU border by 24:00 hrs on the 31st of December, the item will have to be cleared through customs.
Q. A question about entry into force on the 1st of January. In which of these cases will the customs procedure be applied? The item is dispatched from the UK on the 28th of December (postmark).
a) The item crosses the UK border already in 2021.
It all depends on the date of dispatch; if it is the 1st of January or later, the item must be cleared through customs.
b) The item crosses the UK border before 2021, but at the turn of the year it is somewhere between the EU and the UK.
If the words somewhere between the EU and the UK mean crossing the border through the Eurotunnel, it all depends on whether road transport was able to enter the tunnel by midnight on the 31st of December in order to cross the EU border when entering France. The first contact with customs in this case will be in France.
Intra-EU transport started by other means of transport (air, ship) will be completed as intra-EU transport.
c) The item goes into transit in an EU country before 2021, but reaches LV in 2021.
Customs clearance will not be required. There was still free movement of goods between the UK and the EU until 24:00 hrs on the 31st of December. If an item from the UK entered any of the EU Member States, it will be delivered to Latvia without customs formalities.
d) The item enters LV before 2021, but reaches the LV customs in 2021.
Customs clearance will not be required.
e) The item reaches the LV customs before 2021, but the addressee shows up to collect it in 2021.
Items from the UK were not subject to customs control before 2021 – such a situation cannot occur in principle. Customs clearance will not be required.
Q. Will these conditions apply to the whole of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland?
A. The approach to goods/postal items from Northern Ireland differs, as the European Union customs regulations will continue to apply in this area after the 1st of January 2021 and postal items from Northern Ireland will have to be treated as postal items of Union goods.
Q. How will the SRS know what is in my parcel and how much it costs?
A. When preparing a postal item for shipping at a post office and handing it over to the postal operator for delivery to the addressee, the sender must complete the postal delivery note, which must indicate, inter alia, both the goods sent as a postal item and their value.
The same details must be provided when drawing up the customs declaration electronically (either by the recipient or his/her authorised representative, such as Latvijas Pasts).
Q. Do I understand correctly that in order to receive my parcel I do not have to go to the SRS, but an Latvijas Pasts employee will do it for an additional fee?
A. Under no circumstances should you go to the SRS, but customs clearance by drawing up a simplified Import Customs Declaration for Postal Items must be carried out by the customer remotely from his/her user profile in the SRS Electronic Declaration System – EDS. If the customer does not want to do it himself or herself, it is possible to use the paid services of a customs broker of Latvijas Pasts or the services of the postal operator through which the specific item is delivered in Latvia. When choosing the services of a Latvijas Pasts broker, all item-related documentation and the authorisation (power of attorney) authorising Latvijas Pasts to carry out the relevant customs formalities will have to be sent to the e-mail address pastabrokeris@pasts.lv. Latvijas Pasts will carry out customs clearance, inform the customer electronically about the amount of taxes and the service fees to be paid, and the customer will have to go to the post office bringing along the original authorisation (power of attorney), where he or she will be able to receive the item on the spot upon payment of the relevant amount.
A similar question: So, for those people who find it difficult to navigate electronic systems and complete procedures on the Internet, Latvijas Pasts will operate as a one-stop-shop, where a customer will be able to get all formalities completed, including customs clearance of goods?
In a way the customs brokerage service of Latvijas Pasts can be called a one-stop shop if the customer does not want to carry out customs clearance himself or herself. Just keep in mind that it will be important for the customer to submit accurate information about the item requiring customs clearance.
Q. I order goods from the English online store ASOS for my personal needs on a regular basis. The goods are delivered to Latvia by Omniva. As far as I can see in the tracking information of the items, the goods are delivered to me from Lithuania. When I return the goods, they also go to Lithuania. As far as I understand, there is a warehouse there. Will I have to pay import taxes, fill in EDS declarations, etc. after the 1st of January in this case, because the goods arrive from, and are returned to, Lithuania?
A. If an item from a third country is delivered to the recipient through another EU Member State, such as Lithuania, but is not cleared through customs in that country (no taxes are paid for it and it is not released for free circulation), such an item is marked accordingly (in the case of post) or is dispatched under a customs transit procedure subject to special supervision. Latvijas Pasts recognises such items and informs the customer accordingly that customs clearance and payment of taxes must be carried out by the recipient in Latvia.
If the item is cleared through customs in Lithuania, you will not have to clear it again, but you will have to pay the taxes paid on your behalf to the postal service provider, as well as pay the customs clearance fee.
Q. What happens to intimate items, for example from a sex shop – will the contents have to be described in detail for them too?
A. Goods are goods in any case, and they will have to be specified in the description of the postal item, possibly without going into too much detail and using discreet terms in this specific case. However, if the sender does not wish to indicate in his or her own words what goods are in the postal item, it is possible to use the relevant commodity code from the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System (HS) maintained by the World Customs Organization, which can be found here in latvian: https://e.csb.gov.lv/HelpDesk/UI/Page.aspx?pid=436
Q. If someone sends me a gift, I can’t possibly ask what it is and how much it costs. What shall I do?
A. Information about the contents of the postal item and its value is now indicated on all items, regardless of whether they are gifts or purchases in an online store. If it is not possible or comfortable to ask relatives or friends about the value of the item, it can be found out at Latvijas Pasts: the most convenient way to do so is by contacting the Customer Centre (phone +371 67008001, +371 27008001, info@pasts.lv), whose specialists will capture the accompanying documents for the specific item in an image and send the image to the recipient.
Q. If my granny doesn’t have access to the EDS, can I clear the item through customs for her?
A. You can definitely help your granny to fill in and submit a declaration in her EDS user profile. However, if your granny is neither an EDS nor an Internet bank user and she cannot connect to the EDS in any of the possible ways, then the postal service provider must be authorised to carry out the customs formalities.
About SJSC Latvijas Pasts
Latvijas Pasts ensures the widest availability of postal services throughout Latvia by maintaining more than 600 post offices. The primary function of the company is provision of the universal postal service; Latvijas Pasts also provides commercial transport, express mail, payment, press subscription, retail and philatelic services. Latvijas Pasts is a wholly State-owned company with around 3,200 employees. The quality measurements of Latvijas Pasts domestic mail deliveries are regularly conducted by Kantar TNS, one of the leading market, social and media research agencies in Latvia. In turn, the quality measurements of the cross-border deliveries are provided within the framework of the International Post Corporation through the intermediary of the research companies Kantar TNS, Ipsos and Quotas.
Additional information:
Vineta Danielsone | Senior Public Relations Project Manager
E-mail: pr@pasts.lv; vineta.danielsone@pasts.lv
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