Omniva pauses parcel deliveries to US due to new customs duties
Due to new customs duties recently imposed by the United States, from Wednesday, August 20, Estonian mail carrier Omniva will temporarily suspend the delivery of packages to the U.S. Omniva hopes to resume package deliveries to the U.S. as soon as possible.
"In practice, this means customers cannot currently send items – products, goods, gifts, etc. – to the U.S. via Omniva. Letters and documents can still be sent," explained Sven Kukemelk, acting commercial director of the Omniva Group.
The reason for the suspension of the service is recent changes in U.S. customs duties. The U.S. has changed the so-called de minimis threshold, i.e. the limit below which goods are exempt from customs duties and taxes. This has been accompanied by changes in customs clearance procedures, for which there are currently no implementing acts. As a result, Omniva says it cannot guarantee the delivery of packages to its customers.
"I can confirm that Omniva has done its utmost to find solutions in this confusing situation so that we can continue to import parcels from Estonia to the U.S., but we are now at a point where we have to wait for better cooperation from the U.S. side to resolve the situation. We will resume sending parcels to the U.S. as soon as we can guarantee reliable and compliant delivery again," added Kukemelk.
The changes affect all package delivery companies around the world, many of which are taking similar steps to mitigate the situation until the U.S. provides further clarity.
In the future, once the new regulations are in place and operational, sending parcels to the U.S. will also become more expensive due to customs duties.
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Editor: Michael Cole, Aleksander Krjukov
