2007

Below is a quick overview of customs and shipment requirements around the world that may cause delays to the delivery of your international mail in 2007.

Norway 7th December 2007

Shipments: Please be advised that it is prohibited to send wine or any alcohol to companies in Norway without an import license. If you should send to a private person, please add the receiver's social security number, the receiver will occur import fees (even if it is a gift). Please be aware that it is not allowed to send more than 4 litres of wine to any one person.

United States of America 6th December 2007

Shipments and Customs: Please be advised that restrictions vary by country, it is the origin/shipper responsibility to research and provide the necessary documentation. If not expect a service and custom clearance day of 2-5 days.

Restricted Articles include: Egg products, Meat and Diary products, if commercial, USDA permit is required. (No personal shipments permitted). Soil - APHIS permit. Pharmaceuticals. Animal Derived Products (including shoes, wearing apparel) - requires F&W (Fish and Wildlife) Original CITIES. Wearing apparel from China and Vietnam may require original VISA. Check with origin country consulate. Food Stuffs - Requires FDA PN. Alcohol beverages must be shipped as S01EN see policy.

Detailed Descriptions : All descriptions should include full detail of commodity to include a statement of use and origin country of manufacture. The following are not valid descriptions: Samples (also diagnostic samples), Parts (also spare parts or part number), Gifts, Clothing, Tools.

Canada 6th December 2007

Shipment and Customs Requirements :

Controlled Items: 

Food Products : require Canada Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) approval before goods can be released. Additional charges may be incurred and will be charged to receiver.
Meats Products : restricted to commercial receivers only. CFIA approval needed. Non-commercial (residential receivers) - not acceptable. If received, goods will be destroyed.
Dairy Products : most diary products (example - cheese) can be imported on a casual basis (non-commercial) providing the quantity is less than 20 kgs and the value is less than $20.00. All commercial shipments will require CFIA approval.
Pharmaceutical : required Health Canada approval prior to clearance.
Cosmetics : required Health Canada approval prior to clearance. Animal derived products- require CFIA approval.
All above items will be held for formal clearance entries and will require acceptance by either Canada Food Inspection Agency or Health Canada. Expect lengthy delays in clearance.
Alcohol  : This commodity is controlled at a provincial level and must therefore travel into the province of final destination for clearance. Any items received in a province other thanfinal destination will incur additional costs back to origin to transport to final destination. Lengthy delays will incur. Please contact TNT CA for specific information prior to shipping.

Detailed Descriptions
All descriptions must include full detail of commodity to include a statement of intended use and origin country of manufacture. The following are not valid descriptions: Samples, Diagnostic samples, parts, spare parts or part numbers, machinery or machinery parts, clothing, tools.

Detailed Sender and Receiver Information
All consignments must show full name of sender and receiver in the From/To fields and complete addresses on the consignment. Failure to provide will cause delays in clearance and possible additional costs to receiver.

Gifts
All gifts require full detailed description of contents and full name and address of receiver. Gift exemption is CA$60.00. Duties, taxes and brokerage costs will be applicable to all shipments over CA$60.00 and billed to receiver.

Kenya 29th September 2007

Customs: Please be informed that the following requirements must be met in order to ensure hassle-free clearance of inbound shipments into Kenya.
Invoices : Original only and in English
Invoice Descriptions : Detailed goods description for each individual item. Vague descriptions such as "parts, samples, gifts etcare unacceptable If this is not done there is a penalty of 90 USD which will be charged to the receiver.

 Russia 14th September 2007

Shipments: Please be reminded that 15D shipments forwarded to all destinations in Russia must contain only documents printed/written on paper. Documents which are written on CD, DVD, flash cards, etc. are not considered as documents by Russian customs and must be sent and treated as non-document shipments (15N). A commercial invoice must be provided for such shipments. Customs duties and taxes might be applied and paid. All non-document shipments sent as 15D will be stopped and returned to origin on Receiver pays basis.

Kazakhstan 5th September 2007

Please be advised that Kazakh Customs has implemented an amendment to clause 1 of article 383 of the Customs Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The amendment dated 20th August 2007, is an additional fifth paragraph, specifying additional required documentation which has to be handed over to customs, together with the Cargo Import Declaration. With effect from 21st August 2007, the 'Cargo Customs Declaration' issued in the country of departure, has to be submitted to Customs in support of import clearance of customs controlled consignments into Kazakhstan. An exception is made for those Origin countries which legislation does not stipulate the execution of Cargo Customs Declarations. A list of those countries has not yet been agreed upon. The demand of a cargo customs declaration issued in the country of departure. is a unique condition in the field of customs procedures. Through the appropriate channels, concern about the legality of the action has been raised with Kazakh Government. There has not been enough time to prepare for the changes dictated by the changes in the Customs Code. No period of consultation has been undertaken and the new procedures are impractical. Action has been taken to get suspension of the current procedure, which is at the moment still in force. All international operators are affected and TNT is continuing to work with other express companies to apply pressure at the highest level, internally and externally. We are not in receipt of any response from Kazakh Government yet. The Associate in Kazakhstan is doing their utmost to get as many customs controlled consignments released by requesting copies of the Origin Custom Declaration. The backlog in clearance/release of non document consignments is increasing. If possible, please refrain from escalation of e-mails on queries with respect to clearance/delivery of dutiable consignments into Kazakhstan (KZ).

Japan 28th August 2007

Customs : Please be advised that it is has been a long standing rule set by Japan Customs for every customs broker to inspect all inbound shipments for individuals. Contents of shipments from individual shippers to individual consignees in Japan must be inspected. Shipments from companies/organisations to individuals are allowed an exemption from inspection of contents provided Japan Customs has past record of import to the same consignees. Please expect delay in customs clearance on shipments going to individuals into Japan.

United Arab Emirates 28th August 2007

Customs: Please be advised of Customs requirements to be followed in the UAE:

Invoice
Clear commercial invoice should be imaged for preclearance
Invoice should contain the value and currency of the shipment, preferably only one invoice against a consignment
The delivery address in the invoice and airway bill should be the same
Country of origin and HS code is mandatory in all invoices
Original invoices should be sent on the invoices pouch
Airway bill should contain the complete address of the consignee. Contact number, preferably mobile number of the contact person
All invoices should be system generated. Customs will not accept any hand written invoices 

Customs Fines Wrong declaration of country of origin, value and description of goods will attract customs fine of USD 150, which will automatically be charged back to origin. Any difference in the manifest value and currency against the actual commercial invoice will attract a customs fine of USD 150, which will automatically be charged back to origin.

Freezone Charges
Effective from September all receiver pays shipments from UAE Freezones will attract a customs charge of USD 20 if the shipment is by Road and USD 10 if the shipment is by Air. These charges are applicable only if the value of the shipment is over USD 270 and will automatically be charged back to destinations.

 Ukraine 11th June 2007

Customs: Please be advised that all import consignments sent by WEF Door-to-Door to Ukraine should arrive and are handled by TNT Ukraine only in airport Boryspil (KBP), Kiev. To arrange pick up of consignments in the airport and delivery in bounded truck to Customs Warehouse in depot Kiev fur further distribution all over Ukraine all consignments should arrive with the following documentation:
Invoice
MAWB
HAWB

All certificates and approvals that are needed for customs clearance. Please find below instructions for correct completion of MAWB and HAWB:

MAWB Completion Instructions : In the box "Shipper's Name and Address" must be written "TNT Express (address of TNT-shipper)". In the box "Consignee's name and address" must be written: 
"TNT Express Ukraine (Aero-Express Ltd.)", 28A (letter V), Moskovskiy Ave.04073, Kiev, Ukraine".

HAWB Completion Instructions : In the boxes "Shipper's name and address" and "Consignee's name and address" must be written real names of shipper and consignee. In case of missing original documents or mistakes in mentioned boxes of documents problems and uncertain delays in customs procedures in airport or customs clearance in customs of destination may occur.

Kuwait 24th April 2007

Customs: Please be advised that customs authorities in Kuwait have dramatically stepped up the number of inspections on all courier material. As a result, the number of shipments being held for official customs declaration is set to dramatically increase. The clearance process dictates that all imports must be accommpanied with an original invoice on arrival and COO for shipments with a value over US $3,000. Please ensure all exports to Kuwait arrive in the country with original paperwork.

Yemen 6th March 2007

Shipments: Please be advised that perishables/blood samples are not allowed via 15N/Courier mode into Yemen. It can however be sent on WEF/Airfreight. This is because courier consignments are moved from aircraft to arrival hall at Sanaa (SAH) Airport for clearance where there is no cold storage facility. WEF consignments are moved from aircraft to customs warehouse which has cold storage facilities. Please also note that courier consignments cannot be moved from arrival hall to customs warehouse.

 Greece 29th January 2007

Customs: Please be advised that further to a letter received from the customs office (in Greece) all express companies in the country are instructed to follow a new procedure regarding clearance of exported shipments. As from the 29th January 2007 all shipments destined to non EC countries, a SAD document (one for each country) must be issued (including LV non docs). Clearance related documents must be submitted to the AIA customs office until 17:00pm local time every day prior to the issue of the SAD's. Non compliance to the procedure is illegal and will attract a large penalty.