Car Parts, Jesus Christ this is hard! I dont know if any of you have been having issues with car parts packages being returned to sender in the last month or so, rejected by Irish revenue. I've had two, one from Swizerland and one from UK, both are outside of the EU now of course, in both cases here the packages were coming through the postal system, both were rejected and returned to the vendors. Its a complete pain in the ass! I contacted the Customs department of an Post to try to clarify and correct things as the Swiss package had some really hard to get parts in it and it was twice rejected. This is hard to believe but here goes, as probably everyone knows there is a global product coding system used to identify parts and items so that they can be easily identified for the purposes of tarrifs or duties, the numbers/codes are even called HS codes, for Harmonisation System, I've used the codes dozens of times for transactions all over the globe, they are independent of language and interpretation. The Swiss being Swiss have the correct HS or Taric Code for general car parts on the package (twice!), its been rejected twice because allegedly customs or An Post as their agents couldnt identify the code, I googled the code and so universal are those codes that dozens of hits resulted identifying the code as General Car Parts, from all over Europe. I'm just painting the picture here. I contacted An Post's customs and revenue section, here's the unbelievable part, Irish Customs have a new system only really getting into the swing of it post Brexit according to An Post, their codes are different! You have to enter on the customs declaration and label the "Irish Customs commodity code", it has to be one of their 10 digit codes (every one else on the planet has 8) or the package gets rejected. Not surprisingly the Swiss (and likely everyone else) are "f off with your special codes we dont care" so the transaction is either very difficult to complete or cant be completed. I mean who would do something like that? Standardisation? Ah no we'll do something else....
Anyway look, useful bit, if you want to get a parcel in from outside the EU, by Post then ask your supplier to put this code on it and the customs declaration, 8707100000, its our own specialeen Irish code but it works. Save you a lot of frustration.
Niall
Replies
Eh, Mr Chairman, you could be cited for unChairman like language, and who knows - it could seriously affect your reelection chances.......just sayin......
seriously, I have gotten my head around paying the vat, duty, courier fees, but after paying it, it galls that the "System" returns the parcels. Nearly as frustrating as ringing EIR
im wondering what kind of precision Swiss parts Niall is TRying to import ?.......wonder has he purchased a Hispano Suiza?
Absolute bollox and i expect nothing less from our customs. Had issues with them in the past. Luckily nothing recent. I've bought loads of parts from the USA and Japan in recent months and everything went smoothly. It may be just the swiss that feel irish customs should go stick it up their swiss!.
high 5 moments for the Swiss, dejecting moments for you Niall!
What f'ing muppet came up with that approach !!!
Thanks for flagging Niall, you have some patience - I'd say even ringing them and hearing that required considerable self control
Well done for flagging that issue Niall - it could only happen in Ireland as the saying goes !