Finnish postal operator Posti has announced the introduction of a handling fee of €2.90 per shipment for goods from outside the EU fiscal territory that have value of more than €22 and is developing an online customs clearance service.
The fee will come into effect on January 31, 2020 and, as international e-commerce grows, it will cover the costs associated with the handling, notification procedures and warehousing of items. Most of the goods arriving in Finland are of less value than €22, and the fee will not apply to them.
Within the Nordic region, Sweden and Iceland have already introduced similar fees.
Sami Finne, Vice President, International eCommerce at Posti, commented: “The costs associated with international e-commerce will now be covered by the corresponding operations. This helps ensure equal opportunities in trade as well as the competitiveness of Finnish online stores.”
The recipient of the shipment requiring customs clearance will receive either a printed notice of arrival or an electronic notice of arrival via the OmaPosti service. This includes instructions how to pay the fee with a debit card via the secure posti.fi website.
After the fees have been paid, Posti will deliver the item to the recipient without delay. Items that are not cleared within 20 days of the arrival date will be returned to the sender.
Moreover, Posti has developed a new digital forwarding solution within the OmaPosti service in order to speed up the delivery of items from outside the EU. In the first phase, the new solution will only be available for items worth €22 – €150, on which only VAT will be charged.
With the service the consumer can authorize Posti to make the customs declaration. The consumer only needs to submit the information needed for making the customs declaration, and this can be done before item arrives in Finland. When the item has arrived in Finland, Posti clears the item through customs on behalf of the consumer and deducts the fees from the card provided by the consumer.
Furthermore, customs clearance for items through OmaPosti is also cheaper. The price of digital forwarding is €0.90. Customers can also route the goods to a parcel locker of their choice through OmaPosti.
Finne added: “We develop our online solutions to make the international online shopping experience smoother. Digital forwarding will first be introduced for items that come with digital information. Our aim is to extend the service to a significant share of international shipments next year.”
