It seems France did not get the memo that the UK is no longer part of the EU, so anything they ship there is subject to the UK's import rules and regulations. This doesn't matter so much for books; no duties or VAT involved, on those, and export is easy.
However, Artwork, photographs and manuscripts, which used to also be easy to move in and out of the UK, are now subject to VAT -- 5% if over 100 years of age, 20% if under. Also, now all manuscripts must have an export license to leave the UK, even if they only came in for an exhibition. Same for any book valued at above the threshold of 65,000GBP. Not one of them really understood this.
The only proper way around that is to have them come in on a carnet, but what comes in has to go back out, and if a client wants to take an item they purchased with them from the fair, they cannot legally do so. It has to be returned to the dealer's address and shipped back out from there. Which NO dealer is really willing to put up with.
This is totally different from when the UK was part of the EU. Back then, dealers from the continent could bring books and such over in the trunks of their cars, if they felt like it. So long as they kept to the guidelines. But not no more.
So...I'm seeing aquarelles listed in the shipment, and I know they're watercolors. They might slip past the customs person handling the import...maybe...but if they are caught, the whole shipment can be seized for detailed inspection. Which can take weeks to do. Thus making all of the dealers in that shipment miss the fair.
After going through each list with painstaking precision, I sent the export agent in France a long email with my concerns. In French, though I added an English translation at the bottom just to be safe. Dunno why I specifically decided to do that, because his English seems to be pretty good. It just felt...polite. And fun. Sort of. I dunno.
But there went the day. Dammit.
No comments:
Post a Comment