Every parcel shipped abroad -outside the European Union and to the French overseas territories- will be controlled by customs to inspect all goods for a compliance check, the respect of legal content as well as the payment of customs fees before crossing borders of the destination country.
- Customs inspection
All parcels are held by customs authorities according to the legislation for an inspection by customs in both countries.
The purpose of customs agents is to respect the law in force by prohibiting some types of goods likely to harm citizens and the environment of the country of destination.
In every country, Customs laws allows agents to inspect the content of parcels. So don't be surprised if your parcel has been open.
- Mandatory documents
To make sure that parcels will cross customs quickly, they must present 2 documents: a commercial invoice and a CN23 (custom declaration).
- The commercial invoice: you need to upload it while creating the order on your Cubyn portal (as an attached file to the parcel)
- CN23 form: generated by Cubyn’s warehouse automatically based on information you have filled on your parcel, section "Export information". This document certifies the compatibility of information provided and the goods in the parcel.
For more information, you can read the article about :How are customs formalities handled on my shipments
European countries are not concerned by this administrative procedure.
- Payment of customs fees
According to our terms and conditions, the recipient must pay customs fees in the country of destination.
The amount of customs fees is the sum of VAT or any local equivalent, customs duties and administrative fees for the declaration.
The VAT depends on the type of goods as well as the price excluding VAT. The country of destination decides of this amount.
For example the percentage of VAT in Switzerland: https://www.ch.ch/en/vat-rates-switzerland/
Customs fees depend on types of goods, the country of origin and the price of the product. The HS code determines every type of goods that should be filled in the CN23.
The shipper is the one who decides of the HS code of every product.
An example of customs fees in France:
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/FR/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32018R1602&from=FR
The administrative fees for the declaration is decided by the custom broker that will declare the goods to the customs. It's usually done by the carrier in charge of delivering the parcel in the destination country. For example DHL express administrative duties are 15€ for every parcel cleared in Guadeloupe.
4.How to pay customs fees?
Each carrier can offer one or several options to pay customs fees depending on the internal system (payment in cash once the recipient receives the parcel, payment in a post office, using a credit card online).