No free shipping for online shops - Or: The EU is dismantling itself!

The EU is dismantling itself - goodbye to the idea of a borderless Europe!

The EU was once intended to unite Europe. There should be freedom for all people and also for companies to be able to trade without any problems or restrictions.

This is possible without any problems. If you are a mega-company or are called Amazon and can employ a staff of bureaucrats and have a few thousand euros in annual fees for all sorts of things, most of which are superfluous according to common sense.

For us, as for thousands of other small companies throughout the EU, the following unfortunately applies: Neither!
That's why we have to remove a large number of EU countries from our list of shipping destinations.

Here is a list. This is not only for interested customers, but also for ourselves and our employees to keep up to date with the complicated EU-wide shipping rules.
And it may help disappointed Spaniards, Slovaks, Luxembourgers etc. to understand why they can no longer order our products home after 15 years.

We can no longer deliver to the following countries*:

In these countries there are either high fees for packaging material or for registrations or for both.

Bulgaria

A bureaucratically complex licensing process would be required, which we could not afford either in terms of personnel or costs.

Denmark

In addition to licensing costs, there is a one-off registration fee of DKK 1,000 (approx. €134) for the manufacturer register DPA. As a foreign dealer without a CVR number, there are costs for an authorised representative in addition to the licensing and registration fees. (approx. 1,500DKK /200 €)

We had exactly 7 parcels to Denmark in 2023, not worth it!

Estonia

A bureaucratically complex licence is required - we have only had 1-2 parcels per year to Estonia in recent years

Greece

Complex licensing is required, plus costs of approx. 450 euros/year for appointing an authorised representative.
Dear Greeks: Please don't be surprised if you can't order anything from small shops in the EU, that's the reason!

Spain

As a foreign retailer, there are costs for an authorised representative in addition to the licence costs. These costs depend on the packaging quantities and amount to at least 400 EUR/year. The required notarisation of signatures costs approx. 80 EUR once.
We had some customers in Spain - what a pity. Dear Spaniards ... see note on the Greeks ..

France

Complex licensing would be required. In addition, we would pay a flat rate of €80 per year for small-scale distributors. Not much, but unfortunately our offer has hardly found favour with French buyers in the last 10 years, on average 0-1 parcel per year, this will not change as we have already taken France out.

Croatia

Licensing required, additional costs for an authorised representative ... Bye-bye Croatia ..

Cyprus

In addition to the necessary licence, there is a one-off registration fee of €50 plus VAT. We had 3 parcels to Cyprus in 10 years, sorry, out.

Latvia

Licensing is required, and distributors of packaging must also pay the so-called Natural Resource Tax. We would also have to pay the minimum annual amount of 84 euros. We had some good Latvian customers before these rules were introduced, but unfortunately it's no longer worth it for us.

Luxembourg

Licensing is required. Unfortunately, this involves bureaucracy and time. For 0-9 Luxembourg parcels, depending on the year, this is no longer worthwhile.

Hungary

Sorry, but the Hungarians are going completely crazy. And I have to say that as the owner of a Hungarian business partner who is part of our company! Lizenzero states: "For all foreign companies without a registered office in Hungary, the appointment of an authorised representative is mandatory." In addition to the licence costs, there are therefore costs for an authorised representative, which are between €930 and €1,333 in the first year. Important: In Hungary, there is also a quarterly registration fee of €450. In addition to the costs for the authorised representative, you should therefore also expect costs of €1,800 per year for your quantity declarations. " I'm afraid I have to say to the permanent EU critic Mr Orban: this is the pinnacle of EU bureaucratic madness!
But maybe that's what he wants. It's very interesting to get "insider" opinions here, as someone with family ties to Hungary. The opinion there is that it is rather the "evil" EU's isolationist policy that is the reason why such unrealistic barriers are being put in place. In other words, protectionism through the back door, as this would otherwise be prohibited for an EU member state. I don't know what they want to protect, I'm not aware that Hungarians have similarly high-quality food supplements as we do.
It goes without saying that our Hungarian customers, some of whom are even good friends and family members, will have to do without our parcels in future. Unless they order from us in advance and are patient. We travel to Hungary ourselves every 2 months!

Poland

Licensing would not be necessary, but registration in the state register BDO would cost a maximum registration fee of PLN 500/120 euros. Unfortunately, we have had hardly any orders from our neighbouring country in the last 15 years, which we very much regret, so they are now being dropped.

Portugal

Information from Lizensero.eu: "Costs for the appointment of an authorised representative depend on the quantity and can be between € 350.00 and € 1,500.00 per year." "The minimum fee for licensing is €120 per year." Sorry, Portuguese customers, that's no longer possible.

Slovakia

Licensing is required, the annual basic fee of EUR 100 includes the costs for the authorised representative.
Too bad, we also had employees in Slovakia, but unfortunately not enough customers. So we are no longer a shipping destination.
For Slovakian customers with a little patience: we travel to Hungary 5 times a year and can deliver personally to every customer who lives in the Bratislava area!

Finland

Linzenzero.eu: "In addition to the listed licensing costs, there is a one-off registration fee and an annual customer fee: €1.60 per registered tonne of packaging material." The minimum contract volume is €265/year."
Too bad, we have had some satisfied customers in Finland in recent years, but unfortunately not enough to justify such costs and bureaucracy.

Sweden

Linenzero.eu: "In order to fulfil your product responsibility and thus the legal obligation, you are obliged to license your packaging to a recycling system in Sweden."
Too bad, then Pippi Longstocking will have to do without our children's vitamins in the future.

We can supply the following EU countries without any problems - for now!

Belgium, Czech Republic, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Malta, Netherlands, Romania, Slovenia.

And thanks to a nice tip from a customer, we can now also supply Monaco in May 2025 !

Austria

we do supply Austria, but it's a shame that our neighbours in particular have fallen victim to EU bureaucracy.
Here is an excerpt of the rules that only affect us. Larger shops are hit even harder! Estimated costs for authorisation per year: €300. Estimated licensing costs per year: €150 small quantity flat rate. One-off certification costs (in Austria, certification of contract documents is necessary to fulfil the packaging licensing obligations): approx. 90 EUR
This means that the pleasure of continuing to supply our long-standing Austrian customers costs us EUR 450 per year plus an "entry fee" of EUR 90.

As our neighbours are a very important customer group, we are of course sticking with Austria.

*The following website was and is very helpful for compiling this list and for keeping up to date with the constantly growing EU bureaucratic madness: https://www.lizenzero.eu/dashboard/