USPS will begin requiring HS Tariff Codes on all EU-bound shipments.
What will this mean for eCommerce sellers?
Starting on March 1st 2023, there will be a new set of guidelines for businesses that send packages to countries that are now following the EU customs regulations. If you are not prepared for these changes, this can significantly slow down and add confusion to your current shipping operations costing you money, valuable time, and negatively impacting customer satisfaction.
What changes are taking place?
USPS will begin to require HS Tariff Codes on all EU-bound shipments. Every item will now need to be listed and accounted for on your customs declaration forms.
The other significant change occurs on the item’s descriptions. This requirement will force you to be more descriptive on the items in the box. For example, instead of “clothing”, it must be “men’s shirts”, “boy’s vest” or “women’s jacket”. More examples from the USPS website below:
Guidance for Acceptable Descriptions
| Unacceptable | Acceptable |
| Clothes | Men’s shirts, girls’ vest, boys’ jackets |
| Appliances | Refrigerator, stove, microwave oven |
| Artwork | Oil painting, pencil sketch, bronze statue |
| Battery | Lithium batteries |
| Gifts | Scented candle, remote-controlled car, cashmere scarf |
| Medicine | Painkillers, antiviral spray |
| Health & Beauty Products | Detergent, toothbrush, towels |
| Vegetable | Eggplant, onions, broccoli |
These new regulations, according to the USPS announcement, will be implemented to better protect not only business but the consumer as well.
What are these new changes designed to do for you?
For Businesses
- Prevent loss of international outbound revenue
- Follow new EU regulations, reducing fraud and increasing accountability
- Improve speed and efficiency of cross-border ecommerce
- Meet safety and security requirements, preventing delays, fines, and penalties for noncompliance
- Increase competitiveness
For Consumers
- Know EU rules and how to properly describe contents in international shipments
- Send packages with peace of mind, avoiding delayed, discarded, or destroyed packages
What countries follow the EU custom’s rules?
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What steps can my eCommerce business take to simplify this process?
Whether you are selling on a single channel, or you are a multi-channel operation, these guidelines will have an impact on your shipping processes unless you are fully prepared.
Innovative software solutions such as SKULabs can help you streamline this process by automatically filling out the required forms, and sending electronic trade documents to your supported carriers.
Your time is too valuable to manually complete these forms for each of your international shipments. Let SKULabs do the work and save you both time and money!
Contact Us to find out how to get your international shipping on track before March 1st!