As of 1 July tax reliefs are to be abolished in all EU member states for imported parcels with a value of more than 160 kuna (€22) while all parcels delivered from third countries will be taxable, and deliveries are expected to be slowed down, a press conference heard on Friday.

As of 1 July all parcels, regardless of their value, that come from third countries and are purchased online will be subject to VAT upon import, the Customs Administration and Croatian Post told the press conference.

The director of the Customs Administration, Mario Demirovic, said that this is one of the most significant regulatory changes in Croatian Post’s and the Custom Administration’s business with regard to taxes on postal packages and VAT.

“We are absolutely prepared as far as the Customs Administration is concerned,” said Demirovic.

He underscored that all new costs have to be clearly marked for the end user and they have to be transparent and unambiguous. The Customs Administration will exclusively and only charge VAT, he added.

The head of Croatian Post’s public relations office, Kresimir Domjancic, underscored that as of 1 July Croatian Post will introduce a fee to inspect the contents of packages coming from third countries.

Packages with a value of up to €150 will be charged HRK 18.50 while packages valued between €150 to 1,000 will be charged HRK 37. At the same time Croatian Post has abolished some other fees, so that as of 1 July fees for the majority of packages which are valued between €22 and 1,000 will be lower.

(€1 = HRK 7.49)