Customs duty for gifts and teas

Daily Life, Swiss News and General Topics
1
I know there should be a limit of tax-free gifts at 100fr (including postage) but I never received one and my sister wants to send me some stuff given the long Covid-19 induced no-see time She has two questions:

1) Is it enough if she writes it is a gift on the declaration?

2) She wants to send some tea, is that OK? Anybody had problems given it is kind of food and non-EU? Should she include some certificate or original purchase docs? It is standard packaged-tea not home grown

3) I guess no value has to be declared for kids' drawings?

2
According to this page, it is prohibited to ship tea into Switzerland (unfortunately):

https://crossborder.fedex.com/us/ass...nd/index.shtml

It's listed under the "Switzerland Import Prohibitions" sections there.

Regarding customs fees, I think your sister would need to mark any packages as being a gift and also mark that the total value is under the equivalent of 100 CHF in order for you to avoid having to pay any customs, etc. I always have my mother send gifts valued at under 100 CHF and have never had to pay any customs, etc. because of it.

3
i order tea from fortnum and mason frequently. delivered by DPD.

4
That’s news to me. I regularly get tea shipped here and have never had an issue with it. That list is weird. It says textile articles are prohibited as well .

The package need to be labelled as a gift with a value of 100chf or less and there will be no customs duties to pay.

5
I don't think importing tea is prohibited: https://www.ezv.admin.ch/ezv/en/home...trictions.html

6
That list is strange, isn't it?

Alcoholic beverages

Coffee

Oil products

Plants

Tea

All of this I have already ordered online, true, mostly from other EU coutries, but always with a proper import papers.

And what are those two things:

Slides : like "waterslide"? or like "film slide"?

Textile articles , like ?

7
I'm guessing that that link relates to Fedex parcels from the US, from the EU there should not be any problem. But Tea from the UK post Brexit could.

8
Interesting... In my case the country of origin of the tea would be Turkey so it may be a problem I guess... (Turkish markets here sell cheaper ones, not the good stuff unfortunately...)

9
I just have found this with regarding to plants:

https://www.ezv.admin.ch/ezv/en/home...s--cites-.html

By the strict letter of that tea should be possible. Best is to get in contact with Swiss Customs and the Bundesamt für Landwirtschaft BLW and ask them about restriction of tea and herbs from out side the EU.

10
We have received 300 tea bags & other goodies from the UK - post Brexit via Royal Mail and the tea was clearly marked on the customs declaration. Made it to our post box totally unmolested

11
I'm sorry about that then... I admit that when I read that earlier (about tea being prohibited), I was surprised and felt a bit skeptical. I probably should have researched it a bit more before posting that link and my comment. So again, I apologize that my comment was (unintentionally) misleading.

12
This Japanese tea reseller, based in Zurich, notes this on its website:

"Only a few countries prohibit importing tea leaves

Nigeria

Colombia

Sri Lanka

Rates of Customs Duties on Tea Leaves

United States---no duty

Canada---no duty

Australia---no duty

United Kingdom---no duty up to 32 Pound (3.2 % over 32 Pound)

European Union---no duty up to 45 Euro (3.2 % over 45 Euro)"

https://nioteas.com/pages/terms

13
No problem, sometimes unexpected things do happen. For example in Bosnia post does not accept any food (processed, branded or not) for international shipments. Weird but true...