Reply to post: Border crossings

A floppy filled with software worth thousands of francs: Techie can't take it, customs won't keep it. What to do?

Potty Professor
Boffin

Border crossings

I once had to transport some very heavy current switchgear from UK to our pilot installation in northern Germany. They were too big and too fragile to transport by lorry, and the working fluid would have eaten an aluminium aeroplane, had it leaked out, so I had D&T make me a bespoke box body for my trailer, and towed them across with my car (Mk 3 Cortina estate). I did not speak any French at that time, so Customs at Calais and De Panne were rather difficult. It seems that (at that time) there was duty to pay on electronic equipment, but not on electrical. I went into the Calais Customs Office and tore a Post-It Note from its pad and attached it to the light switch on the wall. I wrote on it "240Volts AC, 1 Ampere" before switching the light on and off several times. I then took the Customs Official out to the car, opened the trailer lid, and stuck a Post-It Note onto one of the switch units. I wrote on it "6 Volts DC, 25000 Amperes" and said "Klunk, Klunk" very loudly whilst feigning switching it on and off. The Customs Official understood that this was a switch, and did not contain any electronics, so he signed the Carnet and sent me on my way. I had to repeat the whole pantomime again at De Panne, but not at Genk, as the Customs Officials there spoke enough German to understand my fractured German. I had to go through the whole procedure again on the way back with the (by now scrap) replaced switches in my trailer.

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