NAO-France

Although there are snarls and long delays with Customs (no fault of FLO) coming into Europe goods ordered from FLO have finally been received. And as promised UK VAT being refunded by FLO promptly, who, true to their reputation, are following though on their promise. Much appreciated customer service that underlines their reputation.

A short note regarding importation of UK purchased equipment into the EU. Recent experience demonstrates that the delays are quite long for items, even shipped with well known delivery services, including UPS, DHL, etc. Typically it looks like there is an approx 10 day to 2 week wait for customs clearance. In addition to the European VAT, import duties/tarifs and customs fees of 5-10% are applicable to telescopes, cameras and related equipment (unless manufactured in UK - highly unlikely! - as the origin of all products must be declared). Unfortunately the UK leaving EU puts 365, FLO and others in the same rather complicated situation if returns etc under warranty need to be made. It is worthwhile ensuring that UK supplier does not charge UK VAT as EU Customs will be charging the country in questions sales tax on the total UK price. Happily the UK is still "geologically" connected to Europe, according to a certain UK PM ...

Possible hopeful signs then ... I presume that the appropriate post-Brexit paperwork has been added to the consignments that have been blocked at your warehouse since the 21 Dec, all of which which presumably had none of the appropriate Customs etc declarations included originally ...

DHL may be "available" but an order placed nearly a week before Xmas is still with FLO. DHL Europe reports that issues are fully with the UK arm of DHL. In addition such pre-BREXIT orders without proper post-BREXIT customs declarations will be charged EU country VAT or possibly returned to the vendor. It also appears that ignoring the VAT (UK or EU) issue, imports post BREXIT from UK to EU of items fabricated in third countries (eg., China) will attract full tarifs - anywhere from a few percent to 15 % depending on the classification of the item ...