Customs Duties For Foreign Countries:

All items entering a foreign country are subject to customs inspection and the assessment of duties and taxes in accordance with that country's national laws. Customs duties and taxes are assessed, generally, if the merchandise is dutiable and the value of the item is above the threshold set by the country's laws. If duties and taxes are assessed on an item mailed via the Postal Service, they are collected from the recipient. In addition, for most countries, there is an administrative fee that is collected from the recipient to cover the costs of clearing the item through customs and collecting duties and taxes. For instance, the administrative fee in the United Kingdom is 6.50 British pounds for airmail parcels and 11.25 British pounds for Global Express Mail; in 23 countries in Europe (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Monaco, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, San Marion, Vatican City, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Adorra, Gilbratar, Sweden, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein) the administrative fee is 17 Euros for Global Express Mail and Global Airmail Parcel Post; and the administrative fee in Canada is $5 Canadian for Global Airmail Parcel Post. Business mailers have the option to pay the duties, taxes or fees to certain countries through an International Customized Mail Agreement.

If you want to learn what the threshold for duties and taxes is for a particular country, you can go to www.wcoomd.org for general information or visit the Web site of that country's customs service.