| General Advise Date 2002 Importing Goods into the UK (ref: UK customs site www.hmce.gov.uk) If the value of goods including P&P is less than £18 you won't be charged duty or VAT. / If your order is more than £18 you'll get hit with a 3.5% import duty and 17.5% VAT. / If goods are ordered on line and posted into the UK from within the EU, there is no custom duties but you will have to pay VAT at the rate of the member state where it was posted. / The courier service used will also charge you an administration fee (about £10) for sorting out your import duty and VAT payment (unless you have already pre-arranged payment) all these fees are payable on delivery (COD). On-Line e-commerce Purchasing and selling products or services on-line in the UK and Europe, is governed by a number of regulations and treaties. The "Distance Selling Directive" and the "Brussels Regulation" covers most issues. If everything goes to plan, their is no need to follow a course of action and for the majority of on-line product or service providers, there will be no problems. If you are selling, there are a couple of points to be aware of, in order to comply with the law. If a site takes payment in advance for goods or services, clear contact information must be provided on the site, a clear description of the goods plus additional taxes and delivery charges, customers must be sent a confirmation and all customers have a cooling off period of Seven days (UK and most of the EU) with the right to cancel without reason or penalties. For further reading, try the following sites and documents:
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