[Arm-netbook] Import duties

[Alain Williams]

I finally got round to phoning the customs & excise people to see how we could reduce
the charges that we had to pay to import these things: mainly parcelfarce.

It turns out: you can't - the bureaucracy wants bits of paper & numbers all over.

We need to complete an import declaration and pay the bill. This takes about 10 days
'depending on the post'. The bill is payable on the goods value, freight & insurance.

We would, in the mean time, need to find an agent to store it.

We cannot complete this beforehand and attach to the parcel since we would not know
the ship/aircraft number, the flight/... number, etc. They want all this cr*p
on the paperwork that we need to complete -- goodness only knows why - other than
job creation.

To find out how much we need to pay we need to read:
	Integrated Tariff of UK, volume 3 part 4
This we can either read at a reference library, or pay some #200 to get a copy.
I asked if it was available on line: ''no, it is copyright the EU parliament''
I asked ''why ?, why should I have to pay to find out what the law was.''
He simply said that if I didn't like it I would have to speak to my MEP.

So: it pretty much looks as if we are reduced to paying parcelfarce almost twice
the cost of the VAT -- although if we did it again we would do better to deliver them
all to one place as and reship.

Me: I am VAT registered, so I will simply claim all of the VAT back again.
So a huge amount of paper work to no real purpose.

Bloody bureaucracy -- who wants it ?


Find out about the tariff here ... you really do need to pay to find out what the law is:

	http://www.uk-customs-tariff.com/Login.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2fDefault.aspx

	http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageImport_ShowContent&id=HMCE_CL_001196&propertyType=document

I shall complain to my MP.

-- 
Alain Williams
Linux/GNU Consultant - Mail systems, Web sites, Networking, Programmer, IT Lecturer.
+44 (0) 787 668 0256  http://www.phcomp.co.uk/
Parliament Hill Computers Ltd. Registration Information: http://www.phcomp.co.uk/contact.php
Past chairman of UKUUG: http://www.ukuug.org/
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