They open every single package that’s comes through the boarder? obviously they couldn’t possibly, but they do check the documentation, it’s automated, anything with custom duties or things like “medical devices” and banned products are removed for further details (taxs documents etc) most government department makes no sense, especially customs, which is designed to make as much money as possible, that 21% certainly seems very high indeed.
3 Likes
Indeed, Tenkan opens packages that include an item declared in the description as tax-eligible. They don’t open all of them, but it’s clear that you shouldn’t try to set a low price that doesn’t correspond to the item because they won’t believe you and will destroy it outright. But rest assured, they examine them all in some way. This isn’t a lottery if you try to buy in the US. If they ignore you and you don’t pay, you’ll have to pay if it’s a paid item. They even ask for a bank transfer receipt, they ask for proof of the transaction with the seller or the store with a tracking number and a screenshot. I bought the headphones in November, and we’re almost in April, and they’re still asking me for things. It’s a disgrace.
I’m attaching an image of what I paid in taxes for the headphones.
Indeed, the hearing aid tax is 10%, but the costs they invent to steal our money are 21%. In the end, we pay more money for the expenses they take out of our pockets than the 10% tax on hearing aids. This is what customs charges in Spain.
SINTRA presupuesto correos y aduanas por el PARADISE CROS 2.pdf (217.2 KB)
I’m from Croatia, also an EU country like Spain. I remember how it was with my first hearing aids purchased outside the EU. The employee said that the importer of that brand was contacted and they probably got all the necessary papers from that importer who normally imports that brand to Croatia. Try talking to a Phonak seller in your country, maybe they can help you?
You can try send them instruction manual - there is a reference to the certificate (but not full certificate).
SOLVED
QDL-1359_23_MDR_CE_Certificate_N_38657_rev_22_HIs_Sonova_AG_signe.pdf (996.9 KB)
Thank you, thank you, and thank you so much.
Today, they released the shipment from the US for the hearing aids purchased in November 2024, for which they asked me for many, many documents. However, the one I couldn’t get, and I already thought the aids were lost because they were going to be destroyed, I obtained thanks to this forum and specifically to the member menglxs, who attached the exact document I needed.
There are two documents to import any hearing aid from the US into the European Community:
-
EU Declaration of Conformity. → You can easily obtain it on the Phonak website in any country. Just look for the one corresponding to your Phonak product, such as hearing aid, Rogers, at Certificados | Phonak. (Spain)
-
CE Certificate → This is the one I couldn’t get, neither by contacting Phonak nor the company that issued the certificate. You couldn’t get it anywhere until forum member menglxs attached the document I sent almost a month ago. They released the shipment today, and it should arrive at my home next week. Once I had the correct title for the document, I Googled it and saw that the only place I could get it was on Phonak’s Italian website. Only in Italy have they posted the updated CE certificate, which is the first one available for download, and it’s valid for all models. Here’s the link:
Certificates
With these two documents, you can buy them in the US, and they won’t have any problems getting them into the European Union. I hope I’ve helped you, as you’ve helped me. Thanks to everyone.
6 Likes
Big cudos to @menglxs !! Yay!
WH
3 Likes