@asd429 wrote:
I'm really completely confused by all this. The exempt categories include food, alcohol, medicines, diet supplements etc. which can all pose safety dangers.
This is because food, medicines, medical and veterinary supplies, pesticides, living plants, equipment on which consumers travel "within the context of a transport service" and aircraft are specifically excluded from the GPSR in recitals 10 through 17.
@asd429 wrote:
As an aside, would it be as simple as a book seller to move all listings over to Antiquarian/Collectable?
Recital 18 contains exemptions for antiques. The wording of that recital is very clumsy; it states:
"Antiques, such as works of art or collectors’ items...
...When assessing whether a product is an antique, such as a work of art or a collector’s item, Annex IX to Council Directive 2006/112/EC could be taken into account."
There are two interpretations of the above. The one eBay has taken is that antiques, works of art and collectors' items are three distinct categories of items that are excluded from the scope of the GPSRs. However, the actual wording suggests only items that are antiques - i.e. items that are more than 100 years' old - are excluded. Annex IX to Council Directive 2006/112/EC (the EU VAT Directive) has separate definitions for all three but the way I'm reading the GPSR only antiques are exempt.
Regardless how you interpret it eBay's exclusion list is clearly far too inclusive to be correct. Even if you decide that "collectors' items" are exempt Annex IX's definition of collectors' items is:
"(1) Postage or revenue stamps, postmarks, first-day covers, pre-stamped stationery and the like, used, or if unused not current and not intended to be current (CN code 9704 00 00);
(2) collections and collectors' pieces of zoological, botanical, mineralogical, anatomical, historical, archaeological, palaeontological, ethnographic or numismatic interest (CN code 9705 00 00)."
So, unless you would be entering one of those two commodity code headings on the customs declaration the item would definitely not be exempt from the scope of the GPSR. To try and find some clarification on which interpretation is correct I found this summary of the GPSR published by the EU Commission. It only states that antiques are exempt whilst making no mention of works of art nor collectors' items.
Give me ambiguity or give me something else.
