Your local Post Office (or air courier service) should have a supply of
small green "Customs Declaration" stickers to be completed and stuck on
the outside of the package.  However, these do not exempt your from UK
Customs Duties or (more likely) Value Added Tax (VAT) (= national sales
tax of 17.5% -which applied to services as well as goods across all
European Union - EU -countries) if the import is liable to be taxed.

Further, charities and other non-profits are taxed at the full rate -
there are no US-type concessions, and all works of art (and design
artwork) under 100 years old are taxable at the full rate as well - up to
21% in some continental EU countries.

You have to declare on the customs form the full commercial value of the
items: on the whole it is best to declare SOME value related to the basic
cost of materials, or whatever, even if not for commercial purposes, eg.
write "value $20 - but no commercial value", and they will probably be
let through. Customs also tend to be fairly generous over LOW cost goods
up to perpas $100 declared as as "unsolicited gift for ..." (eg. birthday,
Christmas etc.).

However, there is no guarantee that the package will not be opened
by the Customs whatever is said on the outside (there are frequent random
checks for drugs - and pornography - on all kinds of apparently innocent
looking small packages arriving in the UK by post) If the Customs then
decide that the import is taxable they will write to the recipient with a
bill for the tax the Customs think is due which has then to be paid before
the package is finally delivered.

(I think that you will find that the procedure is more or less the same
with all international mail as most countries - including the USA when we
are mailing things in the other direction - follow more or less standard
rules and procedures agreed internqtionally by the UN's International
Customs Union.

Patrick Boylan

===================================

On Mon, 12 May 1997, debOrah Deborah Cohen wrote:

> Subject: Help: How to mail art to UK ?
>
> I have to air-mail two matted prints to London from The United States.
> These are contemporary prints, not for sale.
> I know that the outside of the package customs label is supposed to be
> marked a special way (in order not to hold up the package for weeks),
> but I am not sure what the correct wording is.
> If you have had experience with this, please send me the information.
> Thank you in advance,
> Deborah Cohen
> email: [log in to unmask]
>