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uCurrent shipment issues to European countries
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kjs:
After reading Davids blog and his comment that he got far to many returns from Germany and some other European countries I was a bit puzzled and investigated a bit. Fortunately I found someone in Germany who was lucky enough to get his delivered and I could ask him what was included in the shipment.

First problem is that for everything which exceeds €22 (product plus shipping cost) USt (VAT/TVA/GST) of 19% (Germany) or similar (18-20%) in other EU countries have to be paid. If the recipient doesn't pay on time the goods are returned. If the shipping cost isn't shown they will estimate it which can be much higher than the real cost.

Next issue is declaration of goods. For all European Economic Area (EEA) countries which is more than the EU itself all electronic goods imported have to have a RoHS declaration as well as a CE declaration in the shipment. As the uCurrent doesn't have a voltage specification below 50VAC and 75VDC it has to at least fulfil the the Low Voltage Directive (LVD) and the Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) Directive. This has to be shown either by a test report summary from an accredited lab or in case of self-certification by the tests performed in accordance with the directive. If these 3 declarations and the CE marking are missing there's a good chance that the shipment gets turned around and goes back to Australia. Getting these test performed by an accredited lab will run anywhere from €1800 to €5000.......
The German customs office just seems to be more efficient in catching these things than their neighbours. They seem to catch  less.....

At least the shipment to the guy which got his through didn't have any of these declarations included. He paid the 19% USt after he showed the total amount including shipping on his receipt and was lucky to be done.

Recently I had a similar issue with PCB's into Switzerland. I added the RoHS declaration of the Shenzen board manufacturer and they had screwed it up and used lead HASL instead of the ordered and declared lead free HASL. The Swiss customs guys used their lead-scanner and I got the entire batch back, real fun (not).
Owen:

--- Quote from: kjs on April 06, 2015, 07:54:38 am ---Next issue is declaration of goods. For all European Economic Area (EEA) countries which is more than the EU itself all electronic goods imported have to have a RoHS declaration as well as a CE declaration in the shipment. As the uCurrent doesn't have a voltage specification below 50VAC and 75VDC it has to at least fulfil the the Low Voltage Directive (LVD) and the Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) Directive.

--- End quote ---

The LVD is only valid for devices with 75 V to 1500 V DC or 50 V to 1000V AC (input/output). See http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/sectors/electrical/lvd/index_en.htm... This shouldn't be the case. I would imagine that they've been returned because they didn't have any RoHS and CE Marks on it, as you said. If Dave would put these stickers on his µCurrents it wouldn't be a problem, i assume. I wouldn't even install the banana terminals and declare it as a electronic measurement kit, so there is no µCurrent avaible for Europe just a µCurrent kit :).
HighVoltage:
It always depends on the guy you have in Germany at the "Zollamt"
At one time I even had a problem with a Logitech Keyboard K750, USA Version.
That one did not have a CE sign on the outside of the box and they did not want to give it to me for hazard reasons.
Luckily, I found the CE sign on the Keyboard and I finally was allowed to take it.

But, if it is declared as a "Research kit" you can get almost anything, even if it does not have a CE sign.

I really do not mind paying the fee and the VAT and I would rather pay more...
But the hassle here where I live in Germany is terrible, each time I go there to pick something up.
Long waiting lines and horrible service and try to explain to some of these people an Oscilloscope or a current clamp probe or an LCR meter.

At one time I got a package from Japan with a small instrument and the seller (probably knowing the trouble with the German Zoll) declared on the outside of the box and on the invoice: "adult plastic toy" !
It was delivered to my house without being opened up for inspection.

   
rob77:

--- Quote from: HighVoltage on April 06, 2015, 09:30:31 am ---At one time I got a package from Japan with a small instrument and the seller (probably knowing the trouble with the German Zoll) declared on the outside of the box and on the invoice: "adult plastic toy" !
It was delivered to my house without being opened up for inspection.

--- End quote ---
:-DD :-DD that's hilarious !

btw. delivering in disassembled state (populated PCB, separate box and screw terminals) and declaring it as electronic parts should work for the whole EU.
mcinque:
I don't think you can avoid EMC directive by simply shipping things that require some assembly or by declaring it as "only for research": otherwise any company would do the same to dramatically cut the design costs (think only about the shielding cages on a pcb) and certification procedure times.
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