A busy October. A practical start to November.
October has been a busy month of working through changes and helping customers understand what they mean. November brings the EU handling-fee application date and the official guidance’s start date for product-identifier reporting.
They deserve separate conversations: one concerns a charge, the other the data accompanying qualifying imports. The useful next step is to follow a real order through your systems and check what reaches the customs declaration.
There is also a Sudoku for your next coffee break, a few seasonal facts and a birthday mention for my customs companion, Jill.
Check how the €2 handling fee is calculated and billed. Make sure the right merchant and manufacturer references reach your customs declarant. Keep charges, product data and commercial delivery promises separate—and leave yourself a little breathing space before the Christmas rush.
Three useful pages to keep close
Say what is inside
Practical examples to help turn vague product descriptions into useful customs information.
Open the guide →THE DESTINATIONSelling to Norway
A destination guide to VAT, VOEC and the questions to check before dispatch.
Open the guide →THE GIFT QUESTIONCan a business shipment be a gift?
A useful reminder before the seasonal packaging and promotional extras go into the box.
Open the guide →These are links to existing guides, not announcements of new November rules. Their own source and review dates remain visible.
The October Sudoku
Medium · 32 numbers are already in place. A little breathing space between the border updates.
Fill every empty cell with a number from 1 to 9. Each row, column and outlined 3 × 3 box must contain each number once. Select a cell, then use the number buttons below or type a digit. Arrow keys move around the grid; Home and End move to the ends of a row. Ctrl or Command with Home or End moves to the first or last cell. Use Erase, 0, Delete or Backspace to clear an entry. Tab leaves the grid.
Your progress stays here only while this page is open. Entries are checked only when you choose Check answers.
Selected row 1, column 1: blank. Editable cell. 0 of 49 empty cells filled.
Show the printable solution
| 5 | 7 | 4 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 9 | 1 | 3 |
| 1 | 6 | 2 | 9 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 8 |
| 9 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 7 | 6 |
| 2 | 1 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 9 |
| 8 | 3 | 9 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 4 |
| 4 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 2 |
| 3 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 9 | 1 |
| 7 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 6 | 8 | 2 | 5 |
| 6 | 9 | 8 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 7 |
Worth knowing. Slightly random.
A whole week for culture
Japan marks Education and Culture Week from 1 to 7 November. On Culture Day, 3 November, some national museums offer free admission to specified exhibitions—not every exhibition at every museum. A good excuse to learn something just for the pleasure of it.
Japan’s MEXT culture programmeA lot of flowers in a tiny jar
It takes about 150 saffron-crocus flowers to produce one gram of dried saffron. The spice comes from the flower’s red stigmas, rather than its petals. That little jar suddenly looks like rather a lot of work.
Royal Horticultural SocietySnowdrops before spring
Kew lists its first Rock Garden snowdrops among November’s seasonal highlights. The plants have their own timetable, so a particular display is never guaranteed—but an autumn walk can have more to offer than fallen leaves.
Royal Botanic Gardens, KewA busy month.
A third birthday.
October has been a very busy month at work, liaising with customers about the new changes. Understanding a change can be difficult enough; once I have got my head around it, the next challenge is explaining it clearly so customers know what it means for them.
There has been a personal milestone too: my customs companion, Jill, turned three in October. It felt right to give her a little space in this month’s briefing.
Hopefully I’ll have more to share about what I have been up to next time. As Christmas approaches, I’m looking forward to Christmas markets and a bit more fun away from the desk over the next few weeks.
