The UK's Finest Independent Forum for Shooters and Gun Owners. Est 2010.

Hi all.

Does anyone know if one needs a UK customs export license to sell a 2nd hand 16x50 scope on ebay to a buyer from abroad?

Thanks

Hi,

If you do,....... then I did not when I sold a scope to a chap in Germany 2 years ago just had to attach a customs declaration on the parcel saying what was in the parcel and item value.


Scope is not a restricted item unless someone knows different.

Scopes with a magnification of greater than 4 times are subject to export control from the UK. Such sights are categorised as military equipment.

See http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2008 ... PART1/made.

I personally know an individual who posted a sight to a European country, declaring it as a telescopic rifle sight and stating the model type, which was more than 4x magnification. He first got a phone call from UK customs to explain the above controls, then the parcel returned to him.

Ceri

Ceri thank you that was the avenue I was going down and that Export Control website is in my cookies list from earlier today!

I've had to break the news to my highest bidder

UK only sales on eBay for scopes you are passing on then folks! Lesson learned.

I had a long 'phone conversation today on exactly this subject as I have some rifle chassis leaving the country right now. They are declared as rifle chassis and have an export license plus all of the import papers from the other end to cover the shipping however they will be subject to an X-Ray check and apparently there is a chance they will be held instead of being allowed through.

Just about anything firearm related is going to need an export license to get it into Europe and even items such as rifle brass will require a license to ship outside of the EU. Another issue is the rules change without notice, I subscribe to an update service which tells me of such changes I also have to keep a keen eye on which countries are on the restricted lists just in case. I can fully understand why some people will not get involved in exporting as it is a nightmare to get right. Even the import of goods can be a PITA, as an example an Open Import License (OIL)is not required or recognised for the import of S1 and S2 firearms from within the EU yet some European countries flatly refuse to issue export licences without a copy of the end user OIL.

one final thing, ignorance is no excuse...

Hmm, best donate all your scopes to us then, oomans...

So what about scopes coming in?, I've had night vision and PSO-1 sniper scopes come from Russia and Finland with no apparent problem.

Good explanation of the faff here too by a vendor who has also been through the pain.

http://www.scottcountry.co.uk/Exporting ... -n1035.htm

I can't even find a courier company that will compensate me if it goes walkies in transit!

It's a load of bollox isn't it? Do they seriously believe that these regulations will hinder the illegal sale and movement of scopes or firearms by the people who make really big money out of it. The only people this hinders are folks like you and I.

Blu

As Dave said above, keeping pace with UK export controls is a nightmare. It seems almost Monty Pythonesque you need an export licence to send a Chinese 10 power scope to France, but you break the law if you send it without. Not sure there would be a prosecution where an individual sent such an item on a one off basis though. A business doing so would potentially find itself facing more serious consequences.

A few years ago most individual US shooting sportspeople, excepting businesses, knew very little about ITAR and were happy to post sights, magazines, triggers, and other non-controlled parts in the UK, to the UK. As a result of a number of factors, understanding of ITAR and the penalties for non compliance has grown significantly, meaning the opportunity to purchase cheap LaRue fore ends, etc through boards such as arfcom has probably gone forever. There have been easements to ITAR, but not sure this has had a noticeable impact on me meaning I end up paying over inflated UK prices or I am unable to obtain the item in question. Who would ever have believed an annealing machine was subject to ITAR, because it had an case feeder thus making it an "Automatic arsenal machine", ie treating it the same as ammunition manufacturing plant machinery? I am envious of the two such annealers which have made it into the UK.

Having re-read the above I know I'm ranting, but sometimes it is cathartic to do so. :)

Ceri