Following an amendment to the Union Customs Code Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446, it will be possible from 1 January 2021 to declare goods up to 150 € using a customs declaration that requires 3 times less data than a standard declaration.
From 1 January 2021 the existing VAT exemption for goods up to 22 € will disappear. In order to allow VAT to be levied, all imports into the EU will have to be declared at the border using an electronic customs declaration.
Considering the enormous volume of low-value consignments imported into the EU, neither declarants nor customs IT systems can handle the production and processing of a standard customs declaration per consignment and in any event a standard customs declaration is not necessary in most of the cases because there is no customs liability for goods of a value below 150€.
Therefore, the Commission has amended the UCC Delegated Regulation to provide for a lower, more manageable but still adequate level of data (a “ super-reduced data set ”) in customs declarations on imports of low-value consignments (those below the threshold for application of customs duties of 150€). This legislation should mitigate, for both customs and traders, the impact of the sharp increase in the number of customs declarations.
This is an important step forward and allows Member States and economic operators to go ahead with their IT developments.
The amending Delegated Regulation, entering into force on 25 July 2019, can be found here.
I wouldn’t mind paying VAT too much - IF that is the only thing to pay for small value imports. What bothers me more are those extra bureaucratic expenses (when they charge you for their work at customs; i hope that robbery is removed).
(i wonder where are all those neoliberals now who were pushing decades for economic liberalization, open competition, globalization, free trade).
