UK Border Agency now inspecting parcels from Germany to Ireland?

Well I know that in exchange for a handsome sum of money with outrages terms (including fees if we don’t use the loan) we have handed over large parts of Irish Sovereignty to the English again but this is just crazy.

I just got a parcel from Germany (A EU country) which was send via German Postal Service and delivered by AnPost. It took 6 days (instead the usual 3) and it had labels all over “UK Home Office – UK Border Agency” and “Inspected by the UK Border Agency”.

No explanation inside the parcel why it was opened but clearly it had not only been opened but also packed out and repacked (you could see the amateur way of having done it).

What is going on here, do we now have to submit parcels from one EU country to another EU country the control of London?

Sure the Border Agency is charged with enforcing customs rules but this parcel has a destination of Ireland not UK and why was there not a note in why this was inspected.

Nothing in the parcel was illegal anyhow (at least for import from Germany to Ireland) and I can’t even see why customs would have had a reason to open it.

Incredible, sure if I get stuff from outside the EU I’m expecting it, but not from our new masters in Germany.

Probably came to Ireland by truck via the UK - hence the UK Border Agency inspection.

Yawn... any old excuse to knock the UK/English on this forum.

Ever heard of road transportation??? Ever thought that England might lie somewhere inbetween Germany and Ireland?

ringledman said:

Yawn... any old excuse to knock the UK/English on this forum.

Ever heard of road transportation??? Ever thought that England might lie somewhere inbetween Germany and Ireland?

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Eh? It was a valid question. It had an Irish address. If the UK border control found something they couldn't do anything but send it on it's way and inform Irish customs. Something might be legal in Ireland that is illegal in other countries. Would you be happy to see customs confiscate it just because the delivery company decided to transport it through a certain jurisdiction? Unless there was a security concerns, I can't see why they opened it. If they had concerns, they should have informed Irish customs and let them deal with it.

Just because the German postal service decides to drive my parcel the scenic route through England does not mean that I expect the UK border agency to do customs service for the Irish, now does it?

A parcel from a EU country to another EU country through another EU country is still within the EU customs union and customs check for intra EU goods are no longer applicable unless it would be for example alcohol which would have to be declared.

Now if the Irish Revenue has suspicions than they can open it in Port Laoise and I live with that, they would let me know if they have a problem.

But what gives the UK Border agency the right to open a transit parcel within the EU and keep it for 2 days while they inspect it. The full tracking history now available on the German postal website shows it was sitting 2 days in the UK for customs inspection.

The parcel had both my and the senders phone number in case of a problem, it has nothing illegal in it and all goods were free of any duty/tax responsibility.

And still the UK border agency decided to open it and keep it around for 2 days with not even a note in it saying, it was held for inspection because [enter random excuse].

That has nothing to do with knock the English in this forum; I would also be outraged if the Belgium or Dutch customs had opened the parcel and delayed it.

And never mind, if they would have repacked it in the way the sender packed it so that some items did not get damaged that would be fine too, but they packed it with the light items to the bottom and the heavy to the top.

I assume that transit thro the UK means they have a right to open it, and it has nothing to do with sovereignty. There have been a few attempts to smuggle devices via post into the UK. I'd say there's heightened security because of this.

A parcel from a EU country to another EU country through another EU country is still within the EU customs union and customs check for intra EU goods are no longer applicable unless it would be for example alcohol which would have to be declared.

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It wasnt necessarily stopped as a customs issue. There are many reasons why the UK Border Agency may have stopped it. Could be random check. There may have been something dodgy found or suspected in another parcel in the truck/mail bag and all parcels were opened as a precaution. The drugs dog may have reacted to the mailbag it was in, and they opened all packages to check which had drugs etc. etc. etc.

I think you are overreacting. Most people would expect that any parcels coming through Ireland en route to somewhere else would be subject to appropriate checks - would be hypocritical to criticise other countries for doing the same.

If it was the Border Agency that opened it then it wasn't customs evasion they were interested in. I would have thought an American would be okay with anti-terrorism activities? Once it's on their territory are they supposed to say, oh that might be a bomb but it's addressed to Ireland so we won't open it?

dereko1969 said:

If it was the Border Agency that opened it then it wasn't customs evasion they were interested in. I would have thought an American would be okay with anti-terrorism activities? Once it's on their territory are they supposed to say, oh that might be a bomb but it's addressed to Ireland so we won't open it?

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The border agency looks after customs and immigration so not sure why you say it wasn't customs evasion they were worried about. We already pointed out that they could open it if they had security concerns but they should have made that clear

Sorry I got that wrong, I hadn't realised the Border Agency had taken over that aspect from HM Customs & Excise.