According to customs and VAT legislation, you pay a certain amount in taxes (customs fees, VAT and duties) for parcels originating from outside the EU. These fees differ depending on the type of imported goods.

Extra administration fees are also charged for the following customs formalities:

• 0 euro for commercial shipments with a value of maximum 22 euros and for private shipments with a value of maximum 45 euros. (Note: alcoholic products, perfume and tobacco products are not exempt of fees for customs formalities)
• 22 euros for customs formalities for non-exempt shipments with a value of up to 150 euros.
• 30 euros for customs formalities for non-exempt shipments with a value above 150 euros.
• 40 euros for phytosanitary checks of plants and plant products.
• 85 euros for a regularisation dossier

These fees must be paid to bpost in cash or with an app. If you don't want to pay the customs fees, your shipment will be returned or destroyed.

You can follow your parcel outside Belgium with Track & Trace. bpost relies on its international partners for the Track & Trace information. They are not always able to communicate this information (on time) so you might not be able to follow your parcel immediately. Once your parcel arrives in Belgium at bpost, you can follow it with our Track & Trace and the My bpost app.

Tip: You can also follow your parcel with the Track & Trace of the foreign postal service handling your parcel. Use the barcode number that you received from the sender and enter it in the Track & Trace of the foreign postal service.

The ‘fees for customs formalities’ is an administrative fee that is charged for:

• determining the contents and value of the parcel
• if necessary, contacting the addressee when the contents, value and details of the parcel do not correspond or are incomplete
• drawing up the required customs declaration
• storage and custody fees for collecting and passing on the customs duties

When a shipment from outside the European Union arrives in Belgium, the parcel is given to customs. The process is as follows:

Security check
Customs performs a security check on all goods arriving in Belgium from outside the European Union. Customs checks whether the goods can be imported to Belgium. If not (e.g. counterfeit goods, weapons or medicine), customs blocks your parcel.

Clearance of the parcel
Customs duties, VAT and any other fees (like anti-dumping duties and environmental duties) are calculated during clearance. The recipient must pay these upon delivery.

Delivery of the parcel
As soon as customs releases the goods, bpost takes care of the delivery. Any customs fees must be paid to bpost. There are 2 ways to do this:

• The exact amount in cash
• With the Payconiq by Bancontact app or a banking app that supports Payconiq by Bancontact

Take into account that the entire process can take a few days. You can follow the status of your shipment with Track & Trace. You will be notified if you must fulfil more formalities or must pay fees upon delivery.

In this case, your parcel comes from outside the EU, even if it was ordered from a European webshop. Some webshops send their products directly from the country of origin. If that country is outside the EU, you might be charged customs fees. Always check the sender address of your parcel when ordering items online.