censorship and customs

Metalipeiklo · Post by **Metalipeiklo** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 8:54 am

SolidSnake311 wrote:I don't think this is legal. They have violated private property. I'll make some inquiries to a friend I have studying laws. Meanwhile, you better check out irish custom laws, take them to the court!!! Any customs lawyer here?

Thing is that the UK (and maybe Ireland as well then) have/had restrictions on freedom of speech we are not used to in other European countries, or other countries except for the Islamic world perhaps. No matter if it's "private" property, if that particular imported material contradicts the law it's to be confiscated by the customs. The same goes for confiscation of child pornography, "snuff movies" and other such obscene shit - it's also a matter of restrictions of freedom of speech (however odd that may seem). I mean, drugs that are confiscated at borders are also private property, but it's confiscated because possession of/importing drugs could be a law infringement. Even death metal bands like Dismember had problems with their lyrics in the UK and had to go before court. I don't agree with or support it but that's the legal background.

PS. Besides, I wonder if it's not too late to go complaining about this in court now, I don't know about prescription times in the UK though.

Edit: UK/Ireland, whatever

Korgüll · Post by **Korgüll** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 10:12 am

Professor Black wrote:American censors are more preoccupied with sexual imagery. Violence is encouraged.

haha... so true! haha..

msp · Post by **msp** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 10:16 am

I got a CD in the post yesterday from a guy in Portugal that had been opened and checked by UK Customs. Can't think why this would be.

Perhaps they were after Porno CD-roms or something as they had run out of things to watch at headquarters

Korgüll · Post by **Korgüll** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 10:17 am

Avenger wrote:Well, I'm going on 6 weeks for a parcel from Australia.

I'm just hoping that the same thing hasn’t happened to me...

Well what are you waiting for from here that could possibly be so bad??

I just sent a parcel recently to someone in Brazil!
Now there's a place where you would constantly worry about whether a parcel is going to show up or not, not b'cos it could be deemed harmful material, but just that the place is so disorganized & import taxes are horrendous!!!

Piotr Sargnagel · Post by **Piotr Sargnagel** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 11:21 am

Thanks for the thoughts. I never actually thought they might be infringing rights because I frequently received packages that had been opened and resealed (never anyhting taken though, except Mayhem cover). However, there is some law here (correct me if I'm wrong Irish posters...) that states that if you import an item, even if it is a gift, you ought to pay tax calculated at the rate you would pay for that item in Ireland. Therefore if you buy a CD in Germany, say for 10 euro, and that item in Ireland retails for 25 euro, they can claim that money back from you if they open the package and found it. Don't know about second hand stuff though...

humus · Post by **humus** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 1:43 pm

Avenger wrote:I've had literally thousands of items mailed to me over the years and this is the longest I've ever had to wait and the first time that a parcel of mine (if that's the case) is opened by customs.

Than you're lucky. I've had several lost packages over the years, and packages showing up as late as six months after they were sent. Service has been good the last 3/4 years but now I'm waiting again for a package that was sent a month ago. Coincidentally, there was a report on the news earlier this week that 67 mailmen were fired last year for holding back letters and packages.

About custums, they only once opened one of my packages. A few times though, I've had to pay import taxes. One time even on a package where they had no right to charge taxes because the value was too low. But you can't do anything about it, if you don't pay they just won't give you your package, and fighting their decision would cost way more than paying the tax. On the other hand, this week I received a trade package where the seller declared value $140. They should have charged me import taxes for that, but they didn't. Very weird...
Also, in Belgium I've NEVER had to declare the value of what I was sending. So I have to pay import taxes for what I get from let's say America, but no-one in the whole world ever has to pay import taxes for what I send. Fucked up system.

Avenger · Post by **Avenger** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 11:29 am

Korgüll wrote:
Avenger wrote:Well, I'm going on 6 weeks for a parcel from Australia.

I'm just hoping that the same thing hasn’t happened to me...
Well what are you waiting for from here that could possibly be so bad??

I just sent a parcel recently to someone in Brazil!
Now there's a place where you would constantly worry about whether a parcel is going to show up or not, not b'cos it could be deemed harmful material, but just that the place is so disorganized & import taxes are horrendous!!!

I'd hope that an $1100 USD parcel would bring worry to you as well.

Korgüll · Post by **Korgüll** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 12:25 pm

Avenger wrote:I'd hope that an $1100 USD parcel would bring worry to you as well.

Ok, fair enough...

What kinda stuff & who was the seller?? Did you insure it?

I'm waiting on a German parcel, nearly 4 weeks...

Avenger · Post by **Avenger** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 12:52 pm

Korgüll wrote:
Avenger wrote:I'd hope that an $1100 USD parcel would bring worry to you as well.
Ok, fair enough...
What kinda stuff & who was the seller?? Did you insure it?

I'm waiting on a German parcel, nearly 4 weeks...

I'm not going to say anything at this point in time because it may not be fault of the seller.

But needless to say, if it doesn't arrive soon, I'm going to start losing sleep over it.

Abyss · Post by **Abyss** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 1:06 pm

Korgüll wrote:
Ok, fair enough...
What kinda stuff & who was the seller?? Did you insure it?

I'm waiting on a German parcel, nearly 4 weeks...

I guess that would all depend on the shipping method chosen you have to think you are 7,000 to nearly 10,000 miles from Germany depending on your location, I've had a package take nearly 3 weeks to get from california to rhode island and that is less than half the distance yours has to travel, it usually takes 10 days to get something from massachusetts for example thats usually using one of the cheapest methods and its about 2600 miles away.

Korgüll · Post by **Korgüll** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 1:16 pm

Abyss wrote:I guess that would all depend on the shipping method chosen you have to think you are 7,000 to 9,000 miles from Germany depending on your location.

Registered mail, 7-10 days normally, from a reputable seller

Abyss · Post by **Abyss** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 1:31 pm

isn't that quite costly? I understand it protects up to $25,000 worth of stuff and that is a decent shipping speed for that distance if it actually gets there on time.

Korgüll · Post by **Korgüll** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 1:36 pm

Not sure how much it costs? Total was $30EU including postage for 1 record. The seller registered it & Australia Post told me registered mail from Germany is usually 7-10 days (but can take up to 4 weeks)...
...so hopefully will be here soon??

Nightlock · Post by **Nightlock** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 2:29 pm

Just curious have you had overtly bad experiences from Germany to Australia Korgüll?

Korgüll · Post by **Korgüll** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 10:04 pm

Not really, just takes longer than most other places.