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

The EU is tearing itself apart – goodbye to the idea of a borderless Europe!

The EU was once meant to unite Europe. It was supposed to provide freedom for all people and also for companies to trade easily and without restrictions.

This is perfectly possible. If you are a mega-corporation or called Amazon and can employ a staff of bureaucrats and comfortably afford a few thousand euros in annual fees for all sorts of things that, by common sense, are mostly superfluous.

For us, as for thousands of other small companies across the EU, unfortunately: neither!
Therefore we have to remove a large number of EU countries from our list of shipping destinations.

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

The following countries we can no longer deliver to*:

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

Bulgaria

A bureaucratically complex licensing procedure would be required, which we could not manage either in terms of staff or costs.

Denmark

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

In 2023 we had exactly 7 parcels to Denmark — not worth it!

Estonia

A bureaucratically complex licensing procedure is required – in recent years we only had 1–2 parcels per year to Estonia.

Greece

A complex licensing procedure is required; in addition costs for the appointment of an authorised representative of approx. €450/year are incurred.
Dear Greeks: Please don't be surprised if you cannot order from small shops in the EU — this is the reason!

Spain

As a foreign trader, costs for an authorised representative are incurred in addition to the licensing costs. These costs depend on packaging volumes and amount to at least €400/year. The required authentication of signatures costs a one-off approx. €80.
We had some customers in Spain — a shame. Dear Spaniards … see the note for the Greeks …

France

A complex licensing procedure would be required. In addition we would pay a flat fee of €80 per year for very small market introducers. Not much, but unfortunately our offer has barely appealed to French buyers in the last 10 years — on average 0–1 parcel per year — and that won't change now that we have already removed France.

Croatia

Licensing required, plus costs for an authorised representative … goodbye Croatia …

Cyprus

In addition to the necessary licensing, a one-off registration fee of €50 plus VAT is payable. We had 3 parcels to Cyprus in 10 years, sorry, it's being dropped.

Latvia

Licensing is required; in addition introducers of packaging must pay the so-called Natural Resource Tax. We would also have to pay the annual minimum amount of €84. Before these rules were introduced we had some good Latvian customers, but unfortunately it is no longer worth it for us.

Luxembourg

Licensing is required. Unfortunately this involves bureaucracy and time. For 0–9 Luxembourgish parcels, depending on the year, it is no longer worth it.

Hungary

Sorry, but the Hungarians are completely over the top. And I have to say that as an owner with a Hungarian business partner who is part of our company! Lizenzero states: “Für alle ausländischen Unternehmen ohne Sitz in Ungarn ist die Bestellung eines Bevollmächtigten verpflichtend.” (For all foreign companies without a seat in Hungary the appointment of an authorised representative is mandatory.) In addition to the licensing costs, therefore, costs for an authorised representative are incurred which in the first year range between €930 and €1,333. Important: In Hungary there is also a quarterly reporting fee of €450 each. So, in addition to the costs for the authorised representative, expect costs of €1,800 per year for your quantity reports."    To the perennial EU critic Mr Orbán I must unfortunately say: this is the height of EU bureaucratic madness!
But perhaps he wants it this way. It is very interesting to get “insider” opinions here, as someone who is family-connected to Hungary. There they say it is rather the EU's “evil” isolation policy that leads to such unrealistic hurdles being set up. So backdoor protectionism, since the latter would otherwise of course be forbidden for an EU member. No idea what they want to protect — I am not aware that Hungary has food supplements of similarly high quality to ours.
It goes without saying that our Hungarian customers, some of whom were even good acquaintances and family members, will have to forgo our parcels in future. Unless they order from us in advance and are patient. We drive to Hungary ourselves every two months!

Poland

Although licensing would not be necessary, registration in the national BDO register would incur a registration fee of up to 500 PLN / €120. Unfortunately we have had hardly any orders from our neighbouring country in the last 15 years, which we regret, so they are now being dropped.

Portugal

Info from Lizensero.eu: “Costs for the appointment of an authorised representative depend on quantity and can range between €350.00 and €1,500.00 per year.” “The minimum fee for licensing is €120 per year.” Sorry, Portuguese customers, this is no longer possible.

Slovakia

Licensing is required; the annual base fee of €100 includes the costs for the authorised representative.
A shame, we even had employees in Slovakia, but unfortunately not enough customers. So they are being removed from the shipping destinations.
For Slovak customers with a bit of patience: we travel to Hungary five times a year and can personally deliver to any customer living in the Bratislava area!

Finland

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

Sweden

Linenzero.eu: “To fulfil your product responsibility and thus the legal obligation, you are required to license your packaging with a recycling system in Sweden."
A shame, Pippi Longstocking will have to do without our children’s vitamins in future.

The following EU countries we can still deliver to without problems – for now!

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

And thanks to a friendly tip from a customer in May 2025, also Monaco!

Austria

We do deliver there, but it is a pity that our neighbours in particular have fallen especially victim to the EU bureaucracy mania.
Here is an excerpt of the rules that affect only us. Larger shops are hit even harder! Estimated costs for the authorisation per year: €300. Estimated licensing costs per year: €150 small-quantity flat rate. One-off costs for authentication (in Austria the authentication of contractual documents is necessary to comply with the packaging licensing obligations): approx. €90
So the fun of continuing to supply our long-standing Austrian customers costs us €450 per year plus a €90 “entry fee”.

Since our neighbours are a very important customer group, we will of course stick with Austria.

*Very helpful for compiling this list and so that we ourselves can keep an up-to-date overview of the ever-growing EU bureaucracy madness was/is the following site: https://www.lizenzero.eu/dashboard/