Almost €2 million in revenue was collected by the Department of Customs and Excise from the €3 duty imposed on small parcels during the first month of the measure’s implementation, in July.
The €3 duty per item was introduced on 1 July on imports into the EU of small parcels valued up to €150 from third countries.
According to the Customs Department spokesperson Giorgos Constantinou, during July revenues amounted to almost €2 million for 650,000 items contained in 160,000 parcels.
Constantinou noted that, compared with previous months, a relative decrease was observed in small parcel imports. However, he said this could be attributed to several factors. As an example, he mentioned that increased orders may have been placed before the duty came into effect, in an effort to avoid paying it, while he also pointed out that July is a holiday month and orders may have declined for that reason.
He estimated that it will become clearer in the coming months whether the duty has affected consumer behaviour. He added that the reactions of companies are also expected, including decisions on where they will keep warehouses and where they will ship products directly from.
Asked whether there had been problems managing the new administrative workload, he said that there had not been any significant issues. Responding to a question about whether any complaints had been received from citizens, Constantinou said there had been no complaints. He noted that during the first few days there were questions about whether or not they would be charged, depending on when their orders had been placed.
After the implementation of the measure, according to Constantinou, consumers understood that the duty does not significantly affect the overall price, and he estimated that orders will return to previous levels.
(Source: CNA)
