Re: Should not have Netherlands VAT ...
Seagate have a plant at Springtown in Northern Ireland. While this is outside the EU, there are import restrictions between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK (and none between Northern Ireland and the EU). A colleague of mine from County Down was surprised to discover that he had to fill out a customs declaration to ship a birthday present back home a few weeks ago. The existence of this internal customs border within the UK is probably most safely described as "controversial". I don't know if the drive at the centre of the article was made at Springtown though.
Seagate may also have manufacturing sites in the EU - the only ones I know of are in the USA. According to Wikipedia, Seagate's legal (i.e. "official") headquarters are in Dublin, though.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
