Drip Opto4 PCB witheld by german customs due to lack of CE compliance

[dhenriks]

Hi all,

I'm new to this forum but have been lurking around as a guest before. Frank from NRG Recording gave me advice to post my question here.

A couple weeks ago, I ordered a Opto4 PCB and two T4-cells for a LA2A-Project from Drip Electronics in Santa Fe.

When the shipment arrived at German customs, I received a notification to pick it up and pay the custom fee. So far, so good. I was asked to open the box for them to verify the content. When they saw that it was a pcb and electronic parts, they said, they couldn't hand it to me because there was no "CE" compliance logo printed on the merchandise and that it could either be sent back to the US or destroyed.

Did anyone here encounter a similar problem when receiving DIY-stuff from the US? And if so, is there anything, I could do, other than have it shipped back?

I was really looking forward to building this project and I read from so many people in Europe, who built Drip-Electronics projects...

Any help is strongly appreciated!

Greetings,
Daniel

 

[audiomixer]

Besides that it does not really make sense to have a CE sign on parts have a look here, might help.

http://www.edaboard.de/neulich-beim-zoll-t20679.html

cheers,

Michael

 

[dhenriks]

Thanks, Michael!

That was a fast reply. So, I'll try to (friendly!) explain this to the german customs officer. To make things even more complicated, they forwarded the case to the german "Netzagentur", wich deals with everything telecommunications-related, as far as i know. Puh!

 

[audiomixer]

Well you might be out of luck with the customs department, but I hope for the best.

sure enough don't need CE certification on DIY components that are going to be installed in electronic equpment. By the way Farnell sells CE certification stickers, just go to the customs, open the package and let something bang on the floor deliberately and stick one on just then ;-)

- Michael

 

[abechap024]

That sucks!! Hope you get it sorted out. That is one anal customs officer.

 

[dhenriks]

Hi all,

just wanted to share with you, that I could finally pick up my pcb from Drip from german customs. After some talking to a guy at "Bundesnetzagentur", he decided, that he would make an exception and release the pcb, even though it doesn't bear a CE sign and can normally not be brought to Europe without CE compliance. I assured him, that I am not a commercial customer and that the pcb will be used strictly private. He said, that this could only be an exception and that I should consider ordering in future with european companies or manufactureres from overseas, who undergo the CE compliance procedure for their products. He also mentioned, that european manufacturers have to comply to US standards when exporting to the US and that US customs are known for a no-exceptions-policy.

This is just, what I learned from the guy. I think, for a piece of plastic with some copper traces on it, this is ridiculous. But with a little bad luck, this could happen to me again, in case my shipments are sampled for customs screenings.

Anyway, I'm very happy, that I hold this beautiful pcb in my hands now and I'm excited to heat up my soldering iron soon to start the project.

Greetings,
Daniel

 

[Rochey]

Daniel, very interesting stuff.
I guess RoHs is next, right?

 

[[silent:arts]]

Mhm. Not normal, and not necessary. However, the customs officer dictates you, and if he wants to be dominant ...
(one reason I let it do by FedEx, UPS or DHL express if possible).

None of my PCBs have any CE sign on it.
I import thousands each year. Have had all kind of customs / import troubles etc, but not.
But not for missing CE signs on PCBs.

However, they always change something, no more Apple Mac Pros available inside the EU because of some new laws since first of march ...

 

[Rochey]

interesting about the mac pro's! why?

 

[[silent:arts]]

Legal EU ********, and always changing - you never know where you are.

Apple did it right and just discontinued inside the EU, instead of doing fixes (my opinion, even if my day work sucks from this)

http://www.macrumors.com/2013/02/18/mac-pro-now-unavailable-for-purchase-from-european-apple-online-stores/

 

[electrog]

...legal EU bullshiz  for sure, but the first in line to comply with weird EU regs is, of course, always Germany.

I moved here 5 years ago from the States, working as a winemaker, and the desire to implement and comply with regulation is just staggering to me.  As a farmer, there is a constant slog of new/revised EU regs to deal with every year. The big ongoing joke amongst my colleagues is that, after a EU reg goes into effect, the Italians and Spanish say "No Problem" then ignore it; the French say "We'll think about it" and then maybe get around to implementing it a few years down the road; The Germans, on the other hand, say "Great!" and make sure to implement it a year early.

I guess its an extension of the precision that makes Germany such a powerhouse in engineering and manufacturing, but man can it be frustrating...   

 

[JohnRoberts]

I guess its an extension of the precision that makes Germany such a powerhouse in engineering and manufacturing, but man can it be frustrating... 

The conceit that government knows best so must regulate everything, does not make engineering or manufacturing stronger, but in fact favors the larger established companies that can better afford the high cost of compliance. The regulatory burden hurts small companies more and discourages new start-ups.

JR

PS for an example of the marketplace not waiting for the government to fix something, in China where the food industry is weakly regulated and often unsafe, Chinese investors are buying the US company Smithfield foods, just so they can get a safe supply of pork. Interesting times. Finding cadmium in a staple food like rice is not a good thing but you can't grow clean rice in dirty water.