As you may know in December 2020 the United Kingdom government struck a trade deal with the European Union. Part of this Withdrawal Agreement is the Northern Ireland Protocol (where the OnTableTop store operates from).


Northern Ireland will remain part of the UK’s customs territory and will benefit in full from any free trade agreements the UK signs with other countries outside of the EU.


For Northern Ireland shipments to and from the EU27 countries EU's Union Customs Code will apply. This means there should be no clearance, tariffs or new restrictions and goods will still have unrestricted access to all EU countries but this cannot be guaranteed for every country as everyone gets up to speed with the changes.


From the NI Direct government website:


https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/eu-exit-and-northern-ireland-protocol


As a result of the protocol, NI has in effect remained in the EU's single market for goods (England, Scotland and Wales have left the EU's single market for goods).


This allows goods to flow to and from NI to the ROI and the rest of the EU as they did while the UK was a member of the EU, without customs checks, tariffs or new paperwork.


Please be aware there may be delays to dispatching orders via certain couriers (particularly bulky/heavy orders) as they update their systems to take in account any new checks and procedures they have to employ.


UPDATE 8th June 2021:

We have had some customers reach out to us in regards to receiving a customs charge before their order could be released. If you require a copy of your invoice to dispute any charges incurred please open a support ticket and we will get that to you. The majority of address labels on our deliveries are from Royal Mail and therefore have our return address which is a Northern Ireland address, post code BT52 1DR


Royal Mail have now informed us that they have made improvements their end before packages get sent to mainland Europe. They are taking better care of separating Northern Ireland packages from those from the rest of the UK to ensure they are not mistakenly returned to sender or incorrectly marked for customs.


We have also now have signed up the services for a new Irish based courier to handle Republic of Ireland orders and well as Europe starting first with bulkier and heavier orders.


Last updated 8th June 2020