Customs Problems with the Crack

[Doc B.]

Sorry for all of this hassle. We will wait to hear what they require and certainly do whatever we can to avoid this in the future. If the US power cord is a trigger for the problem we will go back to leaving them out.

[Jesse0403]

It just feels so random... I picked up a Darkvoice 336 (which I sold for the Crack) from the customs office and the same guy (!) was checking everything and was super friendly. He was actually explaing me some things about the regulations back then (I am studying law and was asking about the stuff). The Darkvoice also had a US-plug included and he didnt lose a word about it, think it was march this year. And today he just seemed absolutely dense to me.

Not wanting to insult you, but I think he thought you were some cheap Chinese Company which was cloacked in the US or something like that. First of all he was very sceptical about the invoice I brought with me (dont know why tbh). And when I tried to explain him what you were selling, he said something about the unknown origin of the parts. Not sure if he wanted a CV of each resistor and when I told him that these where probably made in China (like 99% of small electronic pieces are) he laughed in this "Haa, told you!" way. I became angry at this point which made things certainly worse. It just doesnt make any sense, I mean my Aliexpress parts did never have any problems and after looking online in some German forums a guy that also works at the Zoll says that he doesnt understand the decision either.

The most ironic thing is that I was able to pick up the Darkvoice, a cheap and certainly not well built Chinese product and then the same guy doesnt give me a product from an honest American company...

I think I just had bad luck and this guy was having a bad day or something like that.

[fullheadofnothing]

So in March you had no problems with customs, but now you do. Interesting.

Fortunately for you, Germany is an ally of the United States, so no one could possibly be dumb enough to start a trade war with your country.

[Jay]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

[Laudanum]

So in March you had no problems with customs, but now you do. Interesting.

Fortunately for you, Germany is an ally of the United States, so no one could possibly be dumb enough to start a trade war with your country.

I was gonna go there on page one but thought it wiser not to.   I feel better now that someone said it.   

[Paul Birkeland]

Don't jeopardize my kinder eggs you two!

[SpeedyDad]

This is not my field of expertise (I am a German lawyer) but it seems that the CE requirement applies to electronic parts and not just the finished product. Take a look here (apparently, I can't post links, but you'll find it), there is definition below (elektrische Betriebsmittel):

de.wikipedia.org/wiki/CE-Kennzeichnung

The German Customs office enforces these (European) laws and states that all goods imported into the European Union must comply with European product safety guidelines, even when the goods are imported by private individuals.

zoll.de/DE/Privatpersonen/Postsendungen-Internetbestellungen/Sendungen-aus-einem-Nicht-EU-Staat/Einschraenkungen/Waren/Produktsicherheit/produktsicherheit_node.html

They might not enforce these regulations at all times but as someone who lives in the US and regularly sends gifts back home, I know that more often than not customs hold parcels and have the recipient open them. It's a pain.

The one thing I recommend is that you always ask on what precise basis (Rechtsgrundlage) they hold the parcel. A vague hunch is not enough, they must tell you the law they are enforcing.

I hope I am missing something here because this all sounds so impractical, and I can't imagine how that is supposed to work on a daily basis.

[Jesse0403]

Ok, I dived a bit deeper into this. Looks like SpeedyDad is right.

According to Art. 27 (3) VO (EG) No. 765/2008 also electrical components (elektrische Betriebmittel) need to have a CE-mark.

This guideline was implemented into German law with the Produktsicherheitsgesetzt -ProdSG- (Product Safety Law) and we can find in §7 (3) 2nd sentence ProdSG that products that are not possible to be marked with the CE-logo have to have an addtional document, the CoC. Something like Resistors would be affected by this.

In §9 (3) ProdSG we see the officials at the Zoll have the right to deny access to products with the missing marking or documents.

The guideline 2014/35/EU of the european parlament from the 26th of February of 2014 which replaced the weaker prior requirements tells us what this CoC need to have. This guideline was implemented into German law by the Verordnungen über elektrische Betriebsmittel (regulation of electrical components).
Btw: Guidelines are as the name states just guidelines, but it is required that each EU-member implements them into national law. So, other european countries will have these laws too but they will be named differently.

Back to the CoC. The Verordnung über elektrische Betriebsmittel is again part of the ProdSG.
The guideline 2014/35/EU says that the CoC must include the address of the vendor.
The CoC must of course include a list of all electrical components like the checklist that is included.

The 2011/65/EU includes the requirements for electrical components and mentions the 2006/66/EG which is a guideline for hazardous materials mainly in batteries. At this point I got tired and just looked it up on Wikipedia under the name RoHS-guidelines. But I guess these materials are also forbidden in the US anyways.

Ah, now I come to the "interesting part". You can give 2011/65/EU a read. Art. 7 gives a detailed explanation of the requirements.
Here, it pretty much says everything the CoC needs to have which sounds like more than it actually is. It must be ensured that the components were undergoing some sort of quality control.
The components must have some kind of marking that incicates its type etc. like the stripes on a resistor for example and so on...

Too me it just sounds like the list that was included. The thing that was missing was the address and a title with CoC. Otherwise there are no formal requirements for the format of the CoC.


I am really starting to dislike that official now, although he was technically right.

Edit: I dont want to say that this situation is Bottleheads fault. I think I just had some "Korinthenkacker" (nitpicker) who was controlling the parcel.

[Lobo]

Just to add a data point with regard to importing Bottlehead electronics from the US to Germany: In recent years, I received three separate parcels from Bottlehead, without having problems: Mainline, Bottlehead DAC, Bottlebat, and yet another parcel with transformers from Magnequest. Actually, there was even a fifth parcel, a Crack kit (which Eileen was so kind to let me return unbuilt in order to upgrade straight to the Mainline - thank you so much!). Unfortunately, I do not remember all the details. At least in some cases I had to drive across town to the customs office, open the parcel, explain what was inside and pay import tax. I think the Crack kit was even delivered straight to my door. However, having to drive over to the customs office has happened also with other (non-electronis) articles I ordered from abroad, so that is nothing unusual. FWIW, this was all via the customs office in Munich and between 2014 and 2016.

Wishing you the best of luck! It's worth the wait and effort. The sound is glorious!

[Jesse0403]

Just a quick update: I found out that the federal network agency (I will call them FNA to make it shorter) has to do a pre-inspection within the next three working days.
There are two possibilities for the outcome:

1. The FNA approves the product and says it is no danger for the european market. In this case I will probably receive the package but the final decision will still be made by the customs. I also think this is by far the most likely outcome.

2. The FNA says that the product is a danger for european customers and cannot be handed to me. In this unlikely case the Bottlehead Crack will be added to some kind of electronic "blacklist" of the EU-customs and can also be destroyed instead of being sent back.

But because I am just privately buying the Crack the FNA is again more likely to approve it.

[borism]

Franz Kafka was Czech (but he did write in German)? 

[Jesse0403]

Yes, he wrote in German. We read "Der Prozess" in school and I kinda can understand how K. must have felt.

[Jesse0403]

Update:

Ok, I just talked to the customs office: The FNA denied the import of the Crack.

This time the official told me the detailed reasons:

1. No German manual included. They say that "safe first time commissioning is not given".

2. Parts are missing the CE-mark or the CoC. She couldnt tell me which one they meant but I suspect its mainly the cable.

3. Customs/FNA couldnt see who is the manufacturer of the product. +No contact details for the manufacturer given. This was the main reason.

Afterwards I called another official (whom I talked with before about the case) from the FNA who wasnt so strict and promised me she would look into the case. After 45min I get a call back and she says that there is nothing even she could do.

The FNA could have overlooked the cable and the missing CE-mark, but because the address is not given and there is no manual, not even one in english, they cannot give me the parcel.
The official also told me that the customs-official doesnt have to be a nitpicker to notice that and deny handing over the parcel.

Of course I told her that I already downloaded the manual and that the address is included in there. Addtionally there is a CD with the stuff on it, but a CD doesnt count as documents.
Arguing doesnt help and I also didnt try to.


The good thing is: My Crack must not be destroyed, it has got permission to be sent back to the sender. Because of that the Crack also wont be added to this "blacklist". I will receive a form tomorrow where I can either oppose the decision of the FNA or send back or destroy the Crack.
Obviously I will send it back because opposing would mean legal trouble with a lawyer and so on and detroying would be insane.


So, how to avoid this in the future? I also asked the FNA-official this question.

-Dont include an US-plug. In my case it wasnt the reason but customs are allergic to this kind of stuff.

-Print out the manual. I said to her that it wouldnt be possible for a small company to include the manual in all european languages and she said that english is enough because its one of the official languages of the EU. +Put the contact details somewhere where they are easily visible.


I got confirmation from that same offcial that the parts (resistors, cables etc.) themselves dont need any CE/CoC. The reason why this is listed then has to be the plug.

I know that these steps might seem a bit "too much". It seems like I am the first one to have any trouble with this stuff.

Tomorrow I will also receive the report from the FNA. I will post it here and translate some of the key parts. Maybe I forgot to mention a detail or the customs offcial didnt tell me it.

Additionally I will also contact BH support tomorrow and see how we can figure that out.

[fullheadofnothing]

I do not understand what they mean by no contact details given.

On the outside of the package is a mailing label that includes our postal address and telephone number. This label is obviously still with the package, or they wouldn't have your contact information.

The inside of the package has an invoice that includes our postal address, and an inventory sheet. On occasion, these get left out by mistake, but that is rare and I save the paperwork with our copies when it happens (I just checked and it was not there). The inventory sheet is page 8 from the manual. It has as a line item a reference to the downloadable manual - so the existence of the manual is physically documented. It also has an email address, so there a third method of contact. Literally every piece of paper inside/on the package includes the name "Bottlehead" and at least one contact method.

I have emailed pdf copies of both the label and invoice to you.

[adydula]

Jesse,

I have read your saga and really feel bad for you....its a grat example of how government gets in the way some of the time...you would think they would be more
open and understandable to things like this.

I sure hope you get to get this amp....best of luck in your struggle.

I wish there was something we could do to help you here.....

All the best
Alex