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Shipping masks to family in Europe...CE Certificate?

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  1. #1

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    Shipping masks to family in Europe...CE Certificate?

    Hi guys!

    I just tried to send a box full of masks to my mother in Europe. I was told by the SF guy that I now needed a CE certificate (?). Otherwise, he says the masks will be destroyed at the border. How is this possible? Wouldn't that be for products for selling? Wouldn't a particular address matter? Has anyone faced a similar issue yet?

    Thanks!


  2. #2

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    I shipped with EMS and no CE certificate and nobody asked. Took almost 3 weeks and arrived fine. They sat in HK for a few days and then at German customs for 8 days. Make sure you declare a value below 45 Euros and mark it as gift. Even better if sender and receiver have the same last name.


    Edit: just checked the tracking number and it took 17 days in total.

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  3. #3

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    Quote Originally Posted by mrgoodkat:
    I shipped with EMS and no CE certificate and nobody asked. Took almost 3 weeks and arrived fine. They sat in HK for a few days and then at German customs for 8 days. Make sure you declare a value below 45 Euros and mark it as gift. Even better if sender and receiver have the same last name.


    Edit: just checked the tracking number and it took 17 days in total.
    How long ago was this?

    Thanks man!

  4. #4

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    I sent them in May, but at that point SF were already refusing masks without the CE. Might have just gotten lucky, because the website of the IHK says that CE is necessary for import. Or they might just not care/check for personal shipments.

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  5. #5

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    I shipped with no CE mark...they won't open the box to check.
    Please make sure you do NOT write masks anywhere in the waybill.. I did say "masks" and the customs (Germany AND Italy):
    1. Disregarded my declaration that the value is under the duty-exempt threshold (which varies depending on which country in Europe you ship to)
    2. Disregarded my declaration that it was a gift
    3. Re-estimated the shipment value to more than twice what it was


    Because of the above, the recipient had to pay VAT, duty (as the new assessment of the value by customs was above the threshold), as well as assorted "fees" from the shipment company for paying duties in advance to "simplify" the process (in my case, DHL...avoid like the plague)

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  6. #6

    We had masks send to Portugal, they were blocked by Portuguese customs until we provided a CE certificate and paid additional VAT. This was with DHL and around beginning of April. As per @alexdown, not recommended to declare true content as being masks.

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  7. #7

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    Quote Originally Posted by Edwardstorm:
    We had masks send to Portugal, they were blocked by Portuguese customs until we provided a CE certificate and paid additional VAT. This was with DHL and around beginning of April. As per @alexdown, not recommended to declare true content as being masks.
    did you provide CE Certificate in the end?? how did you get the CE certificate.

  8. #8

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    Yeah, I'm really curious as to what is the procedure for the certificate...


  9. #9

    Yes, the masks were send to us by a friend who has a factory in China producing these masks. She subsequently send the CE certificate by email and we provided it to DHL / Customs which did the trick. (Now..... if that certificate was real or a fake.... I don't really want to know)

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