An Post returning packages from outside the EU-See 1st post

cnocbui

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123254138#Comment_123254138

An post don't comment on Customs, whatsoever. I had a couple of shipments from Japan that arrived without incident also.

If Japan were the problem, why is it only Ireland they have a problem with?

Japan Post has very detailed information about international shipments, including dedicated information about each country, which about Ireland says:

 In this regard, an increasing number of mail items containing goods are being returned to Japan based on a decision by Ireland Customs because of inaccurate or insufficient customs declaration information such as names of contents, number of contents, net weight and country of origin of contents.

Please be sure to provide accurate customs declaration information to avoid your mail items being returned.

I have looked at these pages for a couple other EU countries and none of them had anything similar, and I think I know why, because Ireland is the only EU country that requires TARIC codes, all the rest accept HS codes, according to this JP info page.

Trust the Irish civil service to be 'special'. They are 'special' when it comes to passports as well.

I was told the parcel was returned due to a TARIC code problem. Think about it - If the customs person doing the assessment thinks the TARIC code used is incorrect, then they would also know which was the correct code, meaning they could fix the problem instead of being utterly anal in returning it to teach the stupid foreigners a lesson until they get it right and learn to do things the Irish way, which is different to how the rest of the EU does things.

Not hard to guess that if Ireland weren't so special, and used HS codes like the rest of the EU, I wouldn't have had something returned to Japan twice. Same goes for if customs weren't so bloody unhelpful about returning items rather than just fixing a bloody 10 digit code there would have been a lot less inconvenience, time wasted and CO2 generated.

whiterebel

TARIC and HS codes are the same thing. They go from 6 digits to 10 digits. The extra 4 digs deeper into the classification, so instead of t-shirts, which would require further investigation by a staff member, the extra 4 would show;

1101 t-shirts, 50% cotton, or

1102 t-shirts, 75% cotton, for example.

As far as I remember, An Post jumped the gun 2 years early with the requirment for 10 digit TARIC, which caused the absolut sh!tshow that happened at the time. As far as I know, the 10 digits mean that there is no need for manual intervention in the customs clearance proicess, it is completely automated. ALL postal services are supposed to use this 10 digit system as far as I can remember, which would make sense.

Customs don't do Customs clearance, An Post do. They do not need to have staff to complete the customs entry any more, once the codes, weights, descriptions atc are correct. Japan seem to be identifying the problem themselves. The UK weren't doing it correctly either for a long time. Japan itself uses the 10 digit TARIC as well as per the TNT clearance page:

"HS codes are six digits long, although some countries add extra numbers to the end for further classification. (Like Japan, Germany and the US.)"

DHL, TNT, FedEx and UPS have human operators for clearance, so they just look up the remainder of the HS/TARIC for the entry before it is submitted.

whiterebel

BTW, An Post will normally tell you what is causing the problem if you ring them, and they are in a helpful mood.

ohnonotgmail

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123256105#Comment_123256105

DHL, FEDEX etc also charge considerably more for doing customs clearance. An Post dropped their charge to 3.95 when they automated the customs clearance

New Scottman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123252602#Comment_123252602

I recommend you use a courier for Japan (Fedex or DHL) rather than regular airmail. Admin fee is higher than An Post but you'll get your package.