[Nhcoll-l] international shipments being held up and extra fees

[Neumann, Dirk]

Hi Doug,

that might be simply because in many countries national postal services 
are not slightly underperforming combined with the fact that liability 
for consignments carried within their systems is transferred to national 
postal services (or respective contractors) in the country of origin. 
Both are relevant factors in "smooth" import clearance (with exceptions, 
of course).

There are rumors that zoological or botanical specimens should be banned 
from transport, and the way how customs handles import shipments if they 
are handed over by national postal services is no always convincing (cf. 
incidents in Australia few years back).

There are pros and cons for national postal services (in Munich we use 
our national postal service for most countries, but for some we choose 
express companies like DHL, FedEx, UPS, to maintain control and the 
opportunity to interact quickly if required) ...

Cheers,
Dirk




Am 2021-10-25 20:14, schrieb Douglas Yanega:
> On 10/25/21 10:01 AM, Amanda Bremner wrote:
> 
>> When I send out a package and fill out the FedEx waybill I always
>> opt to choose FedEx as the customs broker. I always include a clear
>> description of our shipment contents (including taxon names,
>> preservation method, weight, country of Origin, total declared value
>> of $20 CAD) and HS code 9705.00 (for botanical, zoological,
>> palaeontological collections).  I always include a boilerplate on
>> the outside of the package and a label for dangerous goods in
>> excepted quantities if the shipment contains 70% or 95% ethanol.  I
>> always note that it is a commercial shipment and use the commercial
>> invoice generated by FedEx.
> 
> There are two substantial differences between your protocol and what
> entomology museums like ours use for insect specimens:
> 
> (1) We always use regular postal delivery, and their standard postal
> Customs declaration.
> 
> (2) We always explicitly state the shipment has zero commercial value
> (and no declared value).
> 
> Otherwise we adhere to the protocol you give.
> 
> Our shipments are almost never held up, and if they are, it's almost
> always for a veterinary clearance. It could be a mix of those two
> factors that make things go more smoothly, hard to say whether just
> one of them alone makes all the difference.
> 
> Peace,
> 
> --
> Doug Yanega      Dept. of Entomology       Entomology Research Museum
> Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314     skype: dyanega
> phone: (951) 827-4315 (disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's)
>              https://faculty.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html
>   "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness
>         is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82
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