🌵OldMartijntje

Goods not fulfilling conditions in article - yellow European union sticker

3 min read

ID: I202512112317 Status: idea Tags: European Union, Trade

Goods not fulfilling conditions in article - yellow European union sticker

Recently I got a package with a yellow sticker saying this:

Goods not fulfilling the conditions laid down in Article 28 and 29 of the Treaty on the functioning of the European Union

What does this mean?

Research

I did some research and found this pdf which is the CONSOLIDATED VERSION OF THE TREATY ON THE FUNCTIONING OF THE EUROPEAN UNION. But it also dates 26.10.2012. In this pdf, when we scroll down to Article 28 and 29 we’ll see that it is under the title FREE MOVEMENT OF GOODS.

Article 28

(ex Article 23 TEC)

  1. The Union shall comprise a customs union which shall cover all trade in goods and which shall involve the prohibition between Member States of customs duties on imports and exports and of all charges having equivalent effect, and the adoption of a common customs tariff in their relations with third countries.
  2. The provisions of Article 30 and of Chapter 3 of this Title shall apply to products originating in Member States and to products coming from third countries which are in free circulation in Member States.

Article 29

(ex Article 24 TEC) Products coming from a third country shall be considered to be in free circulation in a Member State if the import formalities have been complied with and any customs duties or charges having equivalent effect which are payable have been levied in that Member State, and if they have not benefited from a total or partial drawback of such duties or charges.

Is this source up to date?

1st off, can we trust this pdf? Well, it is from the European Union, it is a site owned by them, so we can assume the pdf is authentic. But whether it is still up to date.. I asked AI to research that for me because I was lazy. Yes it still is the same Article.

Meaning

After doing some googling around, finding more references, and using context; I have reached a conclusion. I had to pay VAT when my package was entering the EU. With this information I and other people (on Reddit) have concluded that this sticker was there to indicate that VAT must be paid before customs clears it. And it is just there so that different parts within customs know which package to withhold, and which to let through.

This means that when you receive your package, you don’t need to do anything anymore because it already reached you. You can just have fun with your product. This sticker will only appear for packages coming from outside of the European Union, and it will show to customs (between internal EU borders as well) that VAT has already been paid.

References

Discussion for Goods not fulfilling conditions in article - yellow European union sticker

Graph View

Backlinks