Customs clog up couriers
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• Out-dated customs regulations are causing long delays to express shipments and hampering the growth of a European industry which has managed to achieve an annual worldwide turnover of £9.8 billion, says a new survey, which was commissioned by the International Courier Conference, representing the leading express companies, and carried out by accountants firm Peat Marwick.
The survey shows that EEC customs officials collected only 27% of duty payable and 25% of VAT due on express mail items during a 10-month trial period.
As collecting duty and VAT tends to cause a long delay to consignments, the customs services concentrate on collecting them on high-value packages only and turn a "blind eye" to low-value, low-duty packages. 20% of all packages are liable for duty.