[Regional] Sweden is no longer letting packages from outside Europe be excused import fee & taxes

Hi all Swedes (and other AB users)!

Just a friendly reminder that the Swedish post office, Postnord, and custom services, Tullverket, has decided to no longer excuse taxes (or VAT) and import/handling fees on packages from countries like Korea. Previously, we've basically had no limit on how much we could buy from Asian countries - we have been able to haul skincare for up to $175 and not have to pay either a import fee or taxes on the goods. That is, if the declared value even is $175 (or more), usually sellers mark the value much lower anyway. It's been great, not having to pay a fee for hauling skincare. But changes are a comin'.

The post office says they receive up to 150k packages every day (remember, we are a small country) and that it is almost impossible for them to keep up, and with putting a fee on each package they hope to lessen the amount of packages coming in every day (and make a truckload of money). For example, we have always had import & taxes on packages from the US, where we pay 25% tax on the value of the products plus a $14/125sek import fee. This goes for any package where the value of your products exceeds about $20, whether it is marked as a gift or purchase. The limit is there so you won't have to pay the same amount/more on import/taxes as you paid for the product.

Postnord now says they will make you pay taxes/VAT and a import/handling fee no matter the value of your package, starting from the very first cent. (A few days ago it was going around the Swedish media that the fee would be the same as the current $14 fee, but it was later denied by a spokesperson from the post office. It has not been announced how much the fee will be.)

You can read about it (in Swedish) here, here, here and here. ETA: Here is another article where they specify that it's not just packages from China, but all packages from outside the EU.

The reason I'm making a post about this now is because Tullverket and Postnord are going to be working very fast - they usually do when it comes to money... They say a plan will be in place as soon as March 1st and it will probably be approved quite quickly after that.

It is about 5 weeks until March 1st. If you have staples and HG's in your routine you might want to plan a haul now in order to get it before they slap you with a, very likely, high fee for importing your skincare.

Edit for clarification and spelling error.