Skip to content

The EFC field notes

Real regulation, in the shape it actually reaches a brand.

Notes from the operation on how goods cross the EU border, sit under bond, settle their VAT, meet GPSR, and come back for repair. Anonymized examples, plain mechanics, and the citation where the rule really lives.

Bonded warehousing

Bonded warehouse: deferral, not exemption

A diagnostics equipment maker was importing into Europe one parcel at a time. What changed when stock landed once under bond in Portugal, duty due as it ships.

Read the field note

The record

6 field notes
  1. Market access and IOR Importer of record without an EU entity Every broker refused to be importer of record for a maker with no EU entity. What the role carries, why brokers cannot price it, and how bond changes it.
  2. GPSR and product compliance GPSR and the Responsible Person, explained The marketplace notice behind GPSR: who can carry the EU Responsible Person role for consumer products, what the role holds, and where it stops.
  3. Returns and reverse logistics A return crosses the border twice A parts distributor was paying import charges twice on its own warranty returns. The procedures that stop that, and the loop that avoids the border entirely.
  4. VAT and OSS OSS, IOSS, and what they do not cover How one OSS registration replaced six country VAT registrations for a D2C brand, where IOSS applies, and the boundary it never crosses: B2B and own stock.
  5. Market access and IOR One import, twenty-seven markets A hardware brand was clearing customs on every order sold into Europe. What replaced it: one wholesale landing into a bonded base, then domestic delivery.

By question

Straight to the answer
  1. What is a bonded customs warehouse? A bonded customs warehouse is a facility where non-Union goods can be held inside the EU… Bonded warehouse: deferral, not exemption
  2. What is an importer of record? The importer of record is the party of record for an import… Importer of record without an EU entity
  3. What is a GPSR Responsible Person? It is the European Responsible Person under the General Product Safety Regulation… GPSR and the Responsible Person, explained
  4. Does a return pay EU customs twice when it goes back for repair? It can, if there is no customs procedure covering the trip. A return crosses the border twice
  5. What is OSS VAT and what does it cover? The One-Stop-Shop replaces separate VAT registrations in each member state with a single… OSS, IOSS, and what they do not cover
  6. How does a non-EU brand reach all 27 EU markets from one import? By landing a wholesale quantity of stock into a bonded customs warehouse inside the EU a… One import, twenty-seven markets

Every question, by topic