Lentisc

Merry Christmas first of all. I went through all our families with the correct procedure for posting mail to Portugal for Christmas. All our postage from here made it through to their proper recipients in the UK. However it looks as though this does not work the other way.

Recently I have had several letters informing me of that I need to access a website to release my Christmas mail from customs. I have unfortunately had to return the mail back to sender stuck in Lisbon.

It upsets me that people spend hours in a queue filling out forms and paying for a service which seems to stop in Lisbon.

CTT will lose a lot of service with Brexit from me.

barlaventoexpert

Firstly, this problem does not originate with CTT.

Since 2015, *before the UK voted to leave the EU" agreements were in place that during 2021/2022 new systems would be put in place to ensure that correct customs duties and VAT were being paid on goods arriving from outside the EU & reduce the massive amount of fraud that was going on with Internet Commerce. The UK Govt. KNEW ABOUT THIS!

Recently someone sent me a calendar from Switzerland (which is outside the EU customs area) and I had to complete a customs form online and pay VAT before it was delivered.

We have now advised ALL our family & friends outside the EU NOT to send us gifts by post or couriers. We suggest that if they want to send us presents to do so by buying online from a website in the EU such as amazon.es or amazon.de.

It is highly irritating and hopefully will become easier soon as the kinks work out the system.

SECONDLY, and most importantly as regards Brits resident in the EU receiving presents & goods from the UK, the origin of this shenanigans lies fair & squarely with the TORY Party and BREXITEERS who voted them in. NO ONE ELSE IS RESPONSIBLE!!!!!!!!

If the UK had not left the EU, had gone for the single-market option or even a customs union option, gifts/presents could still have flowed freely between the UK and the EU!

THOSE WHO VOTED FOR BREXIT AND BROUGHT IT ON, ARE 200% TO BLAME FOR THIS IMBROGLIO & I, FOR ONE, CANNOT FORGIVE THEM!

Finally to clear goods arriving by post in Portugal use this page:

https://www.ctt.pt/particulares/rece...gar-encomendas

To send goods outside the EU generate a code using this page and then take the resulting paperwork to a Post Office to send it

https://www.ctt.pt/femss/app/open/fo...uest_locale=pt

Sunseeker1st

Alan PT

In fact, the UK government, INITIATED this with the EU, due to UK companies setting up subsidiaries in the Channel Islands to exploit the VAT rule:
"In the 2011 Budget the Coalition Government announced it would cut the LVCR threshold from £18 to £15 from 1 November 2011 and “explore options with the European Commission” to prevent the relief being exploited “for a purpose it was not intended for.”"

It's still perfectly possible to receive packages, you just need to approach with caution, as you would with any 3rd party country, like the USA. I recently received some ebike parts shipped from the UK via TNT. It was a total price over £135, so the UK supplier did not charge VAT their end. The courier charged their 15 euro customs clearance fee, took a couple of days to clear and I paid the Portuguese VAT. All very straightforward really, just not as easy or cheap as it used to be within the single market, so I would only buy things from the UK if I really can't get them from the EU (so far it's been exactly that one item this year)

Lentisc

Yes I know it is not the fault of CTT, but it will be them that will suffer with the lack of any future business. Also it was not as bad last year as we received 75% of post rather than 10% this, even with so called UK post office documentation.

Shanorme

I don't think CTT are wholly reliant on postage from the UK. Funny enough, people from other countries within the EU regularly post things to Portugal.

Shanorme

PS Excellent post: barlaventoexpert

bons

My niece sent me a birthday present, not seen or heard anything about it.

Lou71

SECONDLY, and most importantly as regards Brits resident in the EU receiving presents & goods from the UK, the origin of this shenanigans lies fair & squarely with the TORY Party and BREXITEERS who voted them in. NO ONE ELSE IS RESPONSIBLE!!!!!!!!

If the UK had not left the EU, had gone for the single-market option or even a customs union option, gifts/presents could still have flowed freely between the UK and the EU!

THOSE WHO VOTED FOR BREXIT AND BROUGHT IT ON, ARE 200% TO BLAME FOR THIS IMBROGLIO & I, FOR ONE, CANNOT FORGIVE THEM! SECONDLY, and most importantly as regards Brits resident in the EU receiving presents & goods from the UK, the origin of this shenanigans lies fair & squarely with the TORY Party and BREXITEERS who voted them in. NO ONE ELSE IS RESPONSIBLE!!!!!!!!

If the UK had not left the EU, had gone for the single-market option or even a customs union option, gifts/presents could still have flowed freely between the UK and the EU!

THOSE WHO VOTED FOR BREXIT AND BROUGHT IT ON, ARE 200% TO BLAME FOR THIS IMBROGLIO & I, FOR ONE, CANNOT FORGIVE THEM!

Seconded! This can't be rammed home enough.