Customs Declaration on Christmas cards to UK?

General Discussion
1

Does anyone know please? Do I really have to stick a customs declaration on all my Christmas cards to the UK (which will be nothing but the card with a few words)?

2

You’ve startled me… as I’ve sent an envelope to UK just this last week… containing a Proof of Life cert for OH… never occurred to me it might need a Declaration of some sort…

Do Customs really need to know what is in the envelope…???

3

I’m positive that letters/cards don’t need a declaration. If I buy stamps on-line, which I often do via LaPoste.fr in order to send a package to the UK, it always asks if the item consists of documents. If I say yes, I am not presented with a customs form, if I pick the alternative box (goods I think) then a customs form pops up to be completed.

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4

I just take my letters into our little Post Office and she always checks that the “country” is clearly the bottom line… since one occasion some years ago, when the automatic sorting machine sent a letter of mine to Espagne… as the envelope was addressed to England (instead of Angleterre :rofl: :rofl:

Fortunately it was a letter which could be tracked… and through her help, it was eventually sent to the correct country… albeit wearing a kiss-me-quick T-shirt and sporting a nice suntan… :rofl:

Grande Bretagne is now necessary… in large letters… wondering where the automatic sorter might send it on an off day…

5

I always put Royaume Uni on mine since that’s the destination that the LaPoste website recognises!

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6

Hmm… perhaps our automatic machine likes too much eau de vie… :rofl:

but, more than likely different instructions being sent out to local PO’s by those who must be obeyed…

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7

I do generally like to use a post office rather than the on-line stamp printing thingy but our local one has closed and the next nearest always has terrifically long queues…

8

Letter are fine! They do not contain “goods”.

This never appears in the country list on post office websites for me. It is always Royaume Uni so as to include Northern Ireland.

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9

Interesting question. As I understand it a letter is a letter🤪 and no value. Therefore no customs declaration. That would be the same for documents. I found this link useful. Basically anything of value needs a declaration including ‘cadeaux’. I don’t see any advice for letters but I could imagine putting ‘lettre’ or ‘documents’ on the back would not do any harm.

https://www.laposte.fr/tout-savoir-sur-les-declarations-douanieres

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10

No. Letters and cards (which count as letters) don’t need a customs declaration.

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11

I regularly send stuff to an elderly friend in the UK containing just printed matter. The LaPoste site is clear I don’t need a customs declaration but I do put DOCUMENTS on the front as a belt-and-braces approach :smiley:

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12

Thank you all very much, that’s a relief!

13

Obviously, having a local sub PO is handy… and it’s also fun, as I’ve know our Sub-Post-mistress for more than 20 years… watched her blossom into confident wife and mother.

I’ll have a good laugh with her about this thread… :rofl:

14

After reviewing the latest “opening hours” for the nearest village Post Office on the official website which again turned out to be incorrect…

There ia now a completely new list of, much shorter, opening hours on the door of the Post Office. The wording says these reduced hours are “Pour vous simplifier la vie”. Did we ask for our life to be simplified in this way? By having the hours of availability reduced?

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15

I can no longer use my village post office (which I made a point of using thinking use it or lose it) because it opens long after I go to work and shuts long before I get back. So tedious.

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