I read a social media post today stating that new EU PPWR legislation creating yet more problems for small, independent businesses is once again the result of undue influence from big business (Amazon, etc). I have no knowledge to confirm or deny this, but I would like to suggest that most conspiracy theories tend to credit institutions (and sometimes nefarious individuals) with far greater organisational skills and real-world competence than they actually possess. This does not mean that some conspiracies don’t exist, but the more likely explanation for most events that appear sinister is often simply incompetence, and decisions that have unintended consequences.
Take, for example, what has happened to small businesses in the UK trying to sell products into the EU since Brexit. There is no point here in analysing the rights and wrongs of Brexit, but it was always going to impose customs, tax, administrative, and regulatory friction between Britain and its closest neighbours.
(As well as not discussing Brexit here, I won’t mention the varying degrees of weirdness in dealing with the US which randomly imposes ever-changing tariffs and fees.)
For a small UK-based independent publisher selling to the EU, we now have to contend with:
1. Every book posted requires customs paperwork and clearance. This additional obligation shouldn’t have been any different from exporting to other countries, but…
2. Couriers and postal operators now add customs-clearance and/or administration fees. And . . .
3. EU countries now impose tariffs on imports from the UK. Each EU country imposes a different rate, and the postal service/ country adds an admin fee to the tariff charged.
4. In theory, all UK businesses ought to have had an EORI (Economic Operators Registration and Identification) number to move goods across international borders. This is now required to post to the EU. Additionally . . .
5. Books may be zero-rated for VAT in the UK, but EU customers can face import VAT and associated charges. Every EU country has different VAT rates. To allow for this . . .
6. UK businesses ought to obtain an (IOSS) code, allowing you to report and pay VAT. Although you can choose just one EU member state to register in and file a single monthly electronic VAT return for all EU-wide sales, because Great Britain is outside the EU, you cannot register directly with an EU tax authority, but must appoint an EU-based intermediary to handle the registration, filing, and payment of import VAT on your behalf. If you sell through an online marketplaces (like Amazon or eBay), they manage IOSS compliance, but it means the time, expense and restrictions of registering and selling with them. Additionally . . .
7. EU Rules of Origin legislation needs to be considered if component materials originate outside the UK! And . . .
8. The EU General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR) now applies, and a GPSR EU representative is required (based in the EU, not the UK). And recently . . .
9 The EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) applies to packaged goods placed on the EU market. A UK publisher exporting books therefore needs to consider the source of packaging materials, and their recyclability, as well as explain how a customer in the EU will dispose of used packaging.
On top of all the above, every postal authority handles imports differently, meaning . . .
a. EU tariffs vary between countries, varying from £0.50 to £8 (Norway.)
b. Most countries will allow the seller to pay the import tariff in advance, but others will not (e.g. Ireland and Slovakia).
c. If a customer is asked to pay fees and/or tariffs, this is not only additional hassle for the customer, but postal authorities don’t seem to like it. There has always been a problem of postmen in certain countries (in our experience, Germany and Spain are the worst) returning parcels stating they were unclaimed when customers never received notification there was a parcel to be picked up. Today, some don’t seem to want the bother of claiming a payment from a customer.
Now, all of the above means that you can’t just wrap up a parcel and add a stamp and a simple customs form.
If you have a Click and Drop account with the Royal Mail they make you type in the name and address, and you have to add the customer’s email address and phone number (even if a parcel is not sent tracked.) The payment of tariffs and fees is confused, opaque and sometimes impossible. You print out your own labels (including an A4 customs form that has to go in a pouch.
If you use Click and Drop online without an account, the website is better and more user friendly. But having typed in all the information once, if you hand it in to a Post Office, they insist on typing it all in again. (They don’t at a sorting office or elsewhere.)
Technology and international diplomacy (or lack of) means that posting a simple parcel takes twice as long as it ever did. And presumably the additional requirements are a reason international post is more expensive than ever.
With every new imposition, from EORI and IOSS numbers, requirements for GPSR compliance and now PPWR legislation, we have pulled our hair out and have expected the worst. But on the whole, we’ve just kept posting books, absorbing the increased time and expense required, and most parcels do seem to get through, despite the best efforts of the administrative forces of darkness. Slightly more parcels than usual seem to be returned, but high-handed international legislation rarely allows for all the extra resources to enforce it.
My gut feeling is that a lot of the legislation like GPSR and PPWR is there to retrospectively prosecute bigger businesses when they have been selling unsafe goods in environmentally unfriendly packaging.
But, please remember, this is a personal perspective and does not constitute legal advice!
We remain open to orders internationally . . .
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