Postal traffic

Goods sent by post from third countries (non-EU countries) must be subject to import customs formalities.

However, no customs formalities are required in respect of consignments sent to Slovenia from other EU Member States, apart from those consignments containing goods which have not yet been released for free circulation in the EU or goods which have been sent from territories not forming part of the EU customs territory or from territories not forming part of the tax territory of an individual Member States.

All consignments arriving from the above mentioned countries must be presented to the customs authority. The carrier of the consignment, i.e. the postal operator (e.g. Pošta Slovenije) or the express carrier (eg DHL, UPS…) is responsible for the submission of items in postal traffic. The data must be submitted with the electronic customs declaration.  Customs declaration data set is defined in the customs legislation. The customs declaration is usually lodged on behalf of the recipient by the consignment carrier. If the consignment carrier is a national postal r, the rules of the Universal Postal Union shall apply.

If the recipient wishes to take care for the consignment customs clearance, he can do so within the standard customs procedure.

The condition for this is registration in the customs information system via the e-customs portal and disposal of the appropriate software. For persons who do not meet this condition, the declaration shall be lodged by their chosen customs representative. The method of carrying out the customs procedure is the result of an agreement between the recipient and consignment carrier. The general terms and conditions of the consignment carrier, which are usually published on the their websites apply in such cases.

The recipient of the goods must provide the customs authority with all the documents and information necessary for the customs clearance of the goods in order to carry out the customs formalities. Where the consignment is not accompanied by all the information, the consignment carrier requests additional clarifications from the recipient, which may be related to the additional costs of the procedures charged by the transferor in accordance with its price list of customs brokerage services.

The following types of consignments of goods are exempt from import customs duties:

• consignments of goods of negligible value sent directly from a third country to a recipient in the EU, up to a total value of 150 EUR. The exemption does not apply to alcoholic beverages, perfumes and eau de toilette, and tobacco and tobacco products;
• goods in consignments of a non-commercial nature sent by natural persons from a third country to other natural persons in the customs territory of the EU up to a value of 45 EUR. Alcohol, cigarettes and certain other products are subject to quantitative restrictions.

In assessing whether the goods in the consignment are eligible for exemption, the value of the goods (excluding postal charges or other indirect costs) is taken into account.

Upon import, value added tax is also calculated and paid, unless it is a consignment of goods of negligible value, which a natural person sends to a natural person in the value of up to 45 EUR.

More information on import procedures is available on the page import of goods and Instruction no. 4/2017 on the implementation of customs clearance of goods.