Help with customs clearance import license UPS

[kmj]

Hello, I along with a group of friends who are diabetic have  bought 100 boxes of ACCU CHEK PERFORMA blood test strips from abroad, we did not know we needed an import licence and stupidly didn't do enough research.

 

Our seller has agreed to refund partial payment on return to seller, but if possible we would like to get them through customs, the UPS agent says that we can for a charge get the name on the delivery changed, if we can get someone who has an import license for this product.

We are willing to pay 20,000 baht to help us clear customs. 

 

Tracking number can be sent if anyone is interested.

 

Thank you in advance.
 

[blackcab]

Such products need Thai FDA approval before a license would be granted. That process takes months and involves detained medical and scientific submissions, normally from a registered Thai company who would become the license holder.

 

20,000 baht would not even scratch the surface if you wanted to do it correctly.

 

However, if a license has already been granted then a second license would not be issued. Additionally, if a license has already been issued, the current license holder would have no incentive to help you import their licensed product and undercut their own business.

 

Most people order 1 or 2 boxes at a time and hope they slip through the net.

[Crossy]

Get it shipped back, send in small batches by normal post avoid the couriers like the plague.

 

Do NOT mention anything remotely medical on the customs forms, most should get through.

 

As above, you are highly unlikely to be able to sort an import licence.

 

[Sheryl]

The only people who would have an import license are pharmacy owners  and hospitals and I can't see any reason one would have to help you on this.

 

Since these are available in Thailand you would not be able to get an import license as a private person. The only cases I know of where someone got a license was for a prescription drug unavailable in Thailand. And even that took quite some doing

 

If possible have it sent to someone in your home country and have them ship to you a little at a time by regular mail (NOT a courier, that guarantees problems).

 

Sent by regular mail in small amounts it will usually get throigh.

[kmj]

Thanks everyone for your feedback we have decided to return to sender and cover the restocking fees.

[w94005m]

In the US, I too used Accu chek, but here when I am out of CGM supplies thanks to Thai Customs ???? or finger checking, I use Gluneo via Lazada or SInocare via AliExpress. I have not had a problem with getting the latter despite being sent from China. Both have been fine for accuracy and are probably as cheap as anything out there.

 

I did investigate import license options for getting my CGM supplies and as noted by others, that's not happening as an individual.

 

Edited February 28, 2021 by w94005m

[Isaanman]

I have run into a similar situation. My folks sent me a package from the U.S. and used UPS instead of USPS (the normal U.S. mail system). Now, my package is sitting in the BKK airport and has to be released by Thai Customs. ???? UPS emailed me and said I can go to the customs at my local airport station, show them all the appropriate documentation (passport, visa, etc) and give them permission to allow UPS to be my broker. But, I have to take the PorPor 20 (ภ.พ.20 -- VAT Registration Certificate) form with me to get them to release it to UPS and I cannot find this document available anywhere on line except as examples.

 

Does anyone have or know where to find a clean copy (PDF) of this document online? Has anyone else ever had this experience and know what it will take for me to get my package out of Thai customs without costing a fortune or paying a bribe?  

[blackcab]

29 minutes ago, Isaanman said:

But, I have to take the PorPor 20 (ภ.พ.20 -- VAT Registration Certificate) form with me to get them to release it to UPS and I cannot find this document available anywhere on line except as examples.

 

Does anyone have or know where to find a clean copy (PDF) of this document online?

 

A PP20 is a VAT registration certificate issued by the Revenue Office to a Thai limited company. Each certificate is personalised to the company it is issued to. You would only have this certificate if the company itself was involved in the import process. There is no copy on the internet that you could use, and even if you did find a copy to use it would be fraudulent representation unless you are genuinely authorised by the company directors to act on their behalf.

 

In general, you would also need to provide a copy of the company's DBD document, and all copy documents would need to be signed by the required number of company directors and affixed with the company stamp. You would also need a letter of authority from the company in your favour, and technically, as you would be an agent of the company, you would need a work permit (although nobody is going to check that).

 

Unless you are the director of a Thai company or you have a very good friend who is then you will not be able to fulfil these criteria.

[Isaanman]

51 minutes ago, blackcab said:

 

A PP20 is a VAT registration certificate issued by the Revenue Office to a Thai limited company. Each certificate is personalised to the company it is issued to. You would only have this certificate if the company itself was involved in the import process. . . .

 

Unless you are the director of a Thai company or you have a very good friend who is then you will not be able to fulfil these criteria.

This is what confuses me. ???? Why would UPS request that I have to submit such a form at the local Customs office in order to get my package? I am not a Thai company; I am simply an individual living in the LoS on a retirement visa who has parents who sent me a very belated Christmas package! I can understand them wanting to "add value" (VAT) to some of the items I am receiving in order to tax items coming into the country; but, this seems overkill to request a PP20. Like you said, is this form not exclusively used for companies registered in Thailand with the Thai Dept. of Revenue--foreign or otherwise? I am not sure why would they be asking for this form from me. A customer service rep from UPS finally got back with me and told me he would send me "UPS's PP20. This should be interesting.  ????

[Sheryl]

27 minutes ago, Isaanman said:

This is what confuses me. ???? Why would UPS request that I have to submit such a form at the local Customs office in order to get my package? I am not a Thai company; I am simply an individual living in the LoS on a retirement visa who has parents who sent me a very belated Christmas package! I can understand them wanting to "add value" (VAT) to some of the items I am receiving in order to tax items coming into the country; but, this seems overkill to request a PP20. Like you said, is this form not exclusively used for companies registered in Thailand with the Thai Dept. of Revenue--foreign or otherwise? I am not sure why would they be asking for this form from me. A customer service rep from UPS finally got back with me and told me he would send me "UPS's PP20. This should be interesting.  ????

Because they and other couriers are used to dealing only with companies and clueless about individual foreigners living here.

 

I have been through this repeatedly. 

As I said before, forget UPS and clear it yourself.

[onekoolguy]

These are medical items so the import license must be for that. You might try a freight forwarder? Did you ask UPS if they could clear it for a fee?

[Isaanman]

I ended up going down to the Customs office at my local airport yesterday. UPS sent me their PP 20 and I used the information from that form to sign a document (many, actually) which gives UPS permission to act on my behalf as my broker in Bangkok--where my package sits. Surprisingly, Customs told me that my ability to do it on my own expired, evidently from the time my wife and I imported a desktop computer from the U.S to Thailand way back in 2002! They still had that info on file! So, apparently, I have been given permission to act as my own import broker again without receiving my own, personal PP 20 and, with that permission, I was able to "add" UPS as a company that could act on my behalf in the matter.

 

I must have signed over 20 documents including some expired visas in my passport. I brought this to their attention and they simply said I had to do it. I should have taken a picture of the documents; they were all in Thai. I read Thai; but, I only really read the sections I was asked to sign (requesting my name, address, passport numbers, the UPS VAT registration number, etc.) 

[Isaanman]

BTW . . . UPS has subsequently sent an email request for me to send them a scanned copy of every page in may passport along with a detailed listing of all of the items sent from America with proof of purchase, brand names, and pictures, among others. No one at the UPS office in the U.S. said anything about the necessity for all this! It reminds me of all I had to go through to ship my household goods to the country as LCL container cargo! I cannot believe I have to do this to merely get a small package of gifts. ????

 

I can understand having to pay duties on a few items. But, UPS has given me an estimated cost of over ฿2,300, not including the ฿133 a day that my package sits in BKK airport before being released. Have any of you ever encountered all this hassle to simply receive a package sent to Thailand through UPS or similar courier service? 

[Sheryl]

Absolutley. I have encountered this  every time a courier was used. So have many other TV members.

 

And from my experience this is just the beginning of your problems. I had one case drag out for 6 full months. And when that happens on top of duty there are storage fees.

 

Which is why I storongly recommend you stop having UPS handle this.  Go out to customs on your own and clear it by yourself, good chance of success at little or no cost (though no guarantee) assuming quantity is small.

 

And in future make sure to never use UPS or any other courier for anything other than a document.