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Post by simosg on Sept 28, 2012 9:25:18 GMT -8
I wonder what is your method to get legally collected insects through custom when coming back from a trip abroad. If your insects got found by the custom, the really don't know if they are protected or not.
Hannes
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Post by wollastoni on Sept 28, 2012 10:06:17 GMT -8
You can bring back dead insects to your country with no legal problem (if collected legally).
Never bring back live insects.
And to be frank, customs never check your luggage and if they do, they won't bother you.(they are looking for drugs and weapons... not dead bugs).
The only difficult country is the USA.
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Post by simosg on Sept 28, 2012 11:12:37 GMT -8
My luggage has been checked two times. There were no insects into my luggage then. And I'm sure, the German custom will bother me. They bothered me when they found leps in parcels from outside of EU. So why not if they find some in my luggage?
If I'm collecting into EU, I send the caught specimens back in a parcel the day before I leave. Parcels into EU don't get checked.
Hannes
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Post by wolf on Sept 28, 2012 12:15:04 GMT -8
I've only been checked once in security check when coming back from Thailand. I had a small box with some butterflies as handluggage and i was in transit in France on my way back to Norway, and the security guard asked me to open the box. He looked and just said oh, and everything was ok.
In New York, coming back from Peru i also had butterflies with me. In security check they just asked if they were dead or alive, when i answered dead, they said ok, no problem. They didn't need to see them. We had a 10h wait there before flying over to EU, and it was not transit.
I've never been stopped in customs though to let them check my luggage. but in Norway, as long as it isn't CITES sp's, there should be no problem at all.
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Post by lepidofrance on Sept 28, 2012 14:09:47 GMT -8
My luggage (except those traveling with me in the cab) at the airport of departure or arrival were never controlled and yet I travel a lot. I must say that I use a luggage deterrent: not a suitcase or backpack but a bag of the type used by sailors ...
The process of post package with dead butterflies is conventional and is used by many collectors including outside Europe.
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Post by simosg on Sept 29, 2012 9:09:27 GMT -8
Thank you all.
Hannes
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Post by prillbug4 on Sept 29, 2012 12:22:22 GMT -8
Make out a make- shift list of what you collected. Store the specimens in a separate suitcase. I went right through Miami customs when I returned from Belize.
Jeff Prill
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Post by Christof on Oct 1, 2012 17:04:07 GMT -8
I had once problems returning from a collecting trip in Turkey. The customs officer could not believe that I had nothing to declare (i.e. no cigarettes, no gold, no leather jacket and no carpet). So she started to go through my stuff (I had a backpack) and found a box with butterflies (which I had collected while I was there). She went back to check with her colleagues (or whatever) and came back asking me what species I had. After I told her a few names (none of them protected) she left again and when she returned she said it was ok and that I could leave. I think that happened to me in Munich (when I was still living there, must be 25 years back now). German customs are a pain and I know from my friends (collecting insects) that they had trouble as well. I never had trouble in any other place in the world!
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Post by simosg on Oct 2, 2012 10:16:53 GMT -8
Yes, they are really a pain. I think it would be easier to get a dead person through German custom than a dead insect. They also are checking parcels from outside of EU very often.
Hannes
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Post by jshuey on Oct 3, 2012 4:13:41 GMT -8
In the US - if you are truly legal, you simply declare them on your customs form. Chances are your bags will then get x-rayed and that will be that. Occasionally, someone will collect copies of your paperwork and ask to see the bugs. - usually just to make sure they are dead.
Shuey
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Post by mygala on Oct 3, 2012 20:01:36 GMT -8
As jshuey stated, in the US, there is a personal baggage exemption. It allows you to even bring in CITES II insects. They just need to be declared on your customs form. If you ship them, there is no exemption and you need that CITES.
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Post by timoinsects on Oct 4, 2012 7:04:09 GMT -8
it depends on different country,maybe the result is different.
i never expected any good result from my customs.i just ignored them,they are not exist.
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robert61
Full Member
Posts: 184
Country: GERMANY
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Post by robert61 on Oct 13, 2012 14:18:25 GMT -8
I also had about 15 years ago some "problems" at Munich airport and when customs asked me what I am bringing in from Dominican Republic I declared cigars and dried butterflies......if I would not have declared them, I would have got a fine the officer told me.
They counted howmany butterflies I had and I got a document that I declared them ,but they took them away and I had to wait for about 12 days till somebody at customs has inpected them for CITES species.
I don´t remember howmuch import tax I had to pay (and some antennae have been damaged....)
but nowerdays it is between 8 %and 19% of the total value,depending the place you declare them....and sometimes they know exact if you give them the correct value of your insects or not....
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Post by wollastoni on Oct 15, 2012 9:37:18 GMT -8
How could they assess the worth of Dominican butterflies ? Are they really expert ?
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Post by simosg on Oct 15, 2012 9:40:49 GMT -8
Probably they just google the names you give them.
Hannes
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