International destination listing

Senders should determine import restrictions from the country's authorities before posting:

• alcoholic beverages
• animal products and live animals
• arms, ammunition and explosives
• bees
• cereals
• coffee, tea, maté and spices
• dairy products
• fertilisers
• fish and crustaceans
• fruit and vegetables
• furskins, skins, raw hides and leather
• inorganic chemicals
• meat and edible meat offal
• narcotics
• plant and plant products
• pharmaceutical products
• products of the milling industry including malt, starches, inulin and wheat gluten
• war materials
• weapons
• works of art, collector’s pieces and antiques.

Alcohol

The importation of alcohol is restricted to addressees in possession of a legal license to import.

Stamps

Cancelled or non-cancelled stamps are admitted only as part of an organized philatelic exchange.

Medicines

Medicines and vitamins admitted must authorised by the Records Office for Medicines and Pharmaceutical Products.

Senders should determine import restrictions from the country's authorities before posting:

• animal products
• bees
• dairy and fish products
• fruit and vegetables
• weapons.

Food products up to 5 kg

May be imported without a certificate in parcels, except raw material of animal origin, thermally untreated food products of animal origin, food additives and admixtures.

Seeds and plants

Seeds, plants and parts of plants require a Phytosanitary Certificate.

Prohibited items

In addition to items considered non-mailable matter, the following are prohibited:

• any printed materials urging or advocating terrorism, violence, war, racism, anti-semitic or fascism
• cereals
• credit cards, credit cards blanks
• currency, foreign
• graphite products
• inorganic chemicals
• ivory
• jewellery, precious stones and metals
• live trees, plants and bulbs
• knives
• metals, non-precious
• paper securities serving as instruments of payment
• plants, bulbs, tubers and rhizomes
• products of the milling industry
• passports
• pornography
• seeds, grains and fruit
• tobacco
• trademarks and labels
• traveller's cheques
• x-Rays.

Documentation required

Information regarding Customs can be found in "Customs Requirements" of the Canada Postal Guide.

In addition, seeds, plants and parts of plants mailed to Estonia require a Phytosanitary Certificate.

The following documents are required:

1. Signed Commercial Invoice
2. Certificate of Origin

Value Added Tax (VAT)

The Import One-Stop-Shop (IOSS) is a program that allows the seller to collect the Value Added Tax (VAT) at the time of purchase, rather than have VAT collected by the recipient at the time of delivery. Under the IOSS program, VAT is remitted monthly by the seller directly to the European Union (EU) tax authority using an online portal. The IOSS can only be used for shipments with a value of less than €150. For shipments over €150, there are no changes to the collection of VAT, duties or other applicable fees on imported goods. The IOSS program also cannot be used for goods subject to excise duties (such as tobacco or alcohol) or gifts. More information on the program can be found here.

In order to register for an IOSS number, a business must have an address in one of the EU member states or hire an IOSS intermediary. If you sell through an online shipping platform or marketplace, you can contact them to see if they are registered for the IOSS program and have their own IOSS number.

If using the IOSS program, the IOSS number must be included when creating the electronic shipping label, entered in the “Tax ID” field (sender.identification.reference). This will allow for the number to be sent electronically. If the number is not present in the electronic data, VAT may be collected from the recipient at the time of delivery. The following Canada Post shipping systems can be used to capture and transmit the IOSS number:

• EST Desktop 2.0
• SnapShip
• Shipping Manager

The IOSS number cannot be transmitted electronically when using a retail location. IOSS numbers start with IM, followed by 10 numeric digits (ex: IM0123456789). When using the IOSS program, a minimum 6-digit Harmonized System (HS) code is required. To find the right HS code, visit the Canada Post HS Lookup tool.