[Nhcoll-l] Shipping to Sicily

[Donald S. Chandler]

I have not had good experiences in shipping dried 
insect specimens to Sicily, and this has perhaps 
been due to the difficulty of getting the 
necessary Italian phytosanitary permits (not a 
fish problem I suspect), which don't exist as far 
as I can tell, but are required. However, when 
shipping to Sicily I supplied the phone number of 
my colleague in Catania, and Italian 
customs/inspection people phoned his office when 
he wasn't there to confirm the shipment was 
expected, and he wasn't there. A return phone 
number was not left for him and despite strenuous 
efforts on his part the relevant people could not 
be contacted, and four months later the specimens 
reappeared at my office. My colleague was most 
apologetic and appalled, but also indicated it is 
a problem when non-EU specimens are sent 
directly. Other, more indirect, avenues were then 
pursued (like having non-Italian EU colleagues 
willing to receive and then send specimens on 
with great success (but you do need the 
phytosanitary permits for those countries now, 
but much easier to obtain), or taking them myself 
(the best of all - colleagues are very grateful, 
canoli/food are very good there).

At 02:47 PM 9/26/2012, Bentley, Andrew Charles wrote:
>Karsten
>
>The EU (of which Italy is a part) has specific 
>regulations in place to control import and 
>export of animal by-products (under which 
>scientific specimens fall).  They are difficult 
>to navigate and each country in the EU has the 
>right to be more restrictive than the EU 
>regulation.  Dirk Neumann has been working very 
>hard to try and get scientific specimens 
>declared outside of the scope of the regulation 
>and thus not requiring inspection.  He recently 
>sent a message indicating that he has made some 
>progress in this regard but it is not yet in force.
>
>The regulations and individual country websites 
>can be found 
>here: 
><http://ec.europa.eu/food/food/biosafety/animalbyproducts/websites_en.htm>http://ec.europa.eu/food/food/biosafety/animalbyproducts/websites_en.htm
>
>Some are unfortunately not in English and thus 
>even more difficult to follow but the general 
>gist of the regulations are that institutions 
>are required to register themselves within their 
>local authority in order to be able to accept 
>samples (although, if you talk to the 
>institutions, in most cases, they are unaware of 
>this).  I have not shipped to Italy but have had 
>success sending to other EU institutions by 
>including a signed 3-177, copy of the invoice 
>and a letter like the attached on the outside of 
>the package and sending material by FedEx or UPS.
>
>Hope that helps
>
>Andy
>
>     A  :             A  :             A  :
>  }<(((_°>.,.,.,.}<(((_°>.,.,.,.}<)))_°>
>     V                V                V
>  Andy Bentley
>  Ichthyology Collection Manager
>  University of Kansas
>Biodiversity Institute
>  Dyche Hall
>  1345 Jayhawk Boulevard
>  Lawrence, KS, 66045-7561
>  USA
>
>Tel: (785) 864-3863
>Fax: (785) 864-5335
>  Email: <mailto:abentley at ku.edu>abentley at ku.edu
>http://ichthyology.biodiversity.ku.edu
>
>SPNHC President-Elect
><http://www.spnhc.org>http://www.spnhc.org
>
>                            :                 :
>     A  :             A  :             A  :
>  }<(((_°>.,.,.,.}<(((_°>.,.,.,.}<)))_°>
>     V                V                V
>
>From: nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu 
>[mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu] On Behalf Of Hartel, Karsten
>Sent: Wednesday, September 26, 2012 12:25 PM
>To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu
>Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Shipping to Sicily
>
>All,
>
>We are in the process of reviewing shippimng 
>specimens in EtOH to Sicily.  If anyone has had 
>good or bad experience with shipping to Italy’s 
>Regione Autonoma Siciliana we would be grateful 
>for any feedback off-line or on-line.
>
>With thanks in advance.
>
>
>Karsten Edward Hartel
>Curatorial Associate in Ichthyology
>Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University
>26 Oxford St, Cambridge, MA, USA 02138
>(617) 495-2477 e-mail: <mailto:hartel at oeb.harvard.edu>hartel at oeb.harvard.edu
>http://www.mcz.harvard.edu/Departments/Ichthyology/index.html
>
>Search our Ichthyology Specimen Database with 
>images.  Be sure to select Ichthyology under 
>Institutional Catalog: 
><http://mczbase.mcz.harvard.edu/>http://mczbase.mcz.harvard.edu>http://mczbase.mcz.harvard.edu
>
>Inland Fishes of Massachusetts now available on 
>line 
><http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/124490>http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/124490
>
>
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