Customs opened my mail !!

gurramok

I was getting a parcel of a friend(real-life person who i know, not some seedy place selling stuff!!) from holland containing a few cds, when it arrived it had a sticky tape labelled 'examined by customs' on the opened end.
It was irish customs who opened it.
What annoys me is do they have the legal right to open parcels ?
Dutch customs have no problem with what i send to their country...ironic ??
Or are we still living in a police state ? !!
Isn't there suppose to be free movement of goods within E.U. now ??

Saruman

I would imagine they do have the right.. they need to know what it is.. you know its not dodgy but they do not!

btw there is free movement but there is still customs as far as i know.. and you did get your package!

Gaz

Well im not surprised dutch customs didnt open , everything is more or less legal there ...but a package coming from holland probably gets red flagged straight away. Its probably a rule that all parcels from there are checked

Beruthiel

and besides all that, it's a nice way for the lads in customs to get some free if they can just find it!!

koneko

Of course they're allowed to open them. If customs suspect a parcel they're well entitled to open it and check what's in it.

Parcels are usually opened in the country they arrive in. Not the one it's shipped from. Free movement of goods is fine and all, but checking suspect parcels is another thing.

I've had parcels checked in Holland (arriving there) aswell. It's perfectly normal.

tHE vAGGABOND

some free

Open parcel, rip mp3's and then replace parcel

ykt0di9url7bc3

gurramok

hey man when sending parcels across its better to write sample across the packaging and inside the packet

RasTa

i got sum dude i know to sent me over weed from amsterdamm and yes customs sized it!!!!
was only bout 6-7 euros worth n all the baastards

Gaz

What did you expect Rasta ???

RasTa

i expected them to arrive!
a m8 of mine went over the amsterdamm and sent himself home 3 parcels of weed and 2 arrived, one didnt

Lol

cournioni

Do people get searched physically when coming home from Holland? I went to Holland a few years ago and was not searched getting off the plane in Dublin. For all the customs/guards could have known, I could have had 10 oz. of hash in my pocket. Just a thought.

Cheez

i got a m8 2 send me over 2 bags of fine! weed from germany cuz he got a bag sent over for christmas and boy was this the sweetest iv ever..anyway it didnt get through even tho it was in a videobox,jeez i dunno im still pissed off!

Victor

Originally posted by gurramok
What annoys me is do they have the legal right to open parcels ?

Eh, they are Customs! It's their job. I'm sure a sample of packets from everywhere get checked. While The Netherlands may not be a red flag in itself, "media from The Netherlands" (your CDs) may be or "media from The Netherlands with hand written envelopes" may be. Likewise timber crates from China are (some wood beetle or something).

Originally posted by gurramok
Isn't there suppose to be free movement of goods within E.U. now ??

Yes, but this is not absolute. They legally can't stop every transport (indeed practically it is difficult), but they can stop a sample.

meglome

I'd look on the bright side, they have the right to open your anus as well so I think you got off lightly.

gurramok

Originally posted by Victor
Eh, they are Customs! It's their job. I'm sure a sample of packets from everywhere get checked. While The Netherlands may not be a red flag in itself, "media from The Netherlands" (your CDs) may be or "media from The Netherlands with hand written envelopes" may be. Likewise timber crates from China are (some wood beetle or something).

Yes, but this is not absolute. They legally can't stop every transport (indeed practically it is difficult), but they can stop a sample.

Are they allowed to seize parcels and keep them?
Do they have to legally inform people if they seize something?
Whats the legal position if a parcel with legit stuff never arrives ?

Strange thing is that there is free movement of people + goods among the benelux countries and germany but not here !!
When i was over there, customs were non-existent, if only that could happen here

Do people get searched physically when coming home from Holland? I went to Holland a few years ago and was not searched getting off the plane in Dublin.

Well all i can say is that exactly happened to me a few times coming from belgium though.(cheaper ryanair detour to belgium so as to get to holland!)
You could be carrying a dead body in your suitcase and no customs there to stop you !!

TwoShedsJackson

Are they allowed to seize parcels and keep them?

Yes.

Do they have to legally inform people if they seize something?

No. Unless they decide to prosecute you for importing drugs/porn/weapons/whatever.

Whats the legal position if a parcel with legit stuff never arrives ?

The onus would be on you to find it by dealing with the delivery company or postal service, or ringing Customs. In other words, forget it

Cerdito

This might be of interest:

Of all the times I have had anything (legitimate stuff now!) posted to me only twice have I failed to receive the package. Funnily enough it was the same thing both times....Vitamin C tablets!!! Obviously I can understand why, but one of the times was in a package sent from Dublin to Limerick, do they have internal customs now?! Again, not a word from anybody about what happened......

po0k

Why would you ship Vitamin C tablets from Dublin to Limerick? Were they special tablets which couldn't be bought over the shelf in your local shop/pharmacy/healthfood shop?
It looks very suspicious. As a result they'd have to test each tablet (testing implies destruction) to see what illegal (if any) they contain.

Cerdito

Suffice to say, I've learnt my lesson. I'm not going to bother explaining why they were being posted to me as it's veering off the point. Interesting though, that they are checking national mail now......

po0k

Shíte, my little DiVX from Home business will be shorter lived then i had anticipated...must find another source of income.......

JustHalf

Originally posted by Cerdito
Suffice to say, I've learnt my lesson. I'm not going to bother explaining why they were being posted to me as it's veering off the point. Interesting though, that they are checking national mail now......

Or perhaps it was lost in the post?