28th December 2019, Skopje – As of 1st January 2020, there will be a customs duties relief for low-value and small consignments of EUR 90. Under the amendments to the Decree, the threshold relief from the so-far EUR 45, has been increased. Threshold increase is aimed at implementing the European Commission recommendations, as well as increasing the e-trade volume in the country.
This is a result of the analysis for customs clearance of low-value and small consignments, being carried out by the Ministry of Finance.
-Number of low-value and small consignments the citizens and the companies order online increases, thus challenges for both the state and the companies also increase. Threshold for low-value and small consignments in the EU is EUR 150. Citizens coming back from abroad and entering the country at a border crossing can bring goods into the country in the amount of EUR 350, and no import duties are paid thereto. When talking about facilitating cross-border e-commerce, two sides of the coin are to be taken into consideration. Citizens constantly request an increase of the value threshold for goods subject to customs duty relief. On the other hand, under the veil of greater incentives, certain category of people want to carry out illicit trade. Therefore, we work on improving the process and increasing the efficiency, Minister Angelovska said at the promotion event of the scanner for control of postal consignments at the Customs Branch Office Posta – Skopje in November this year.
In line with he data of the State Statistical Office, on-line shopping in our country in 2019 increased by 14% in the last 12 months, i.e. online orders increased from 35.9% to 31.6%. In addition, the scope of households using Internet increased by 81.8%.