Importing Optics from Europe

Airw4ves

Airw4ves

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Probably somewhere in this forum but I cant seem to find it. My question is, has anyone imported optics from europe? And if so, what would be the duty rate on them? I've tried to look through the CBSA but their site is absolute garbage, and getting someone to pick up a phone has proved near impossible. From my understanding, its ITAR that makes importing from the US a pain. But being that ITAR is a US reg, is there anything stoping me from buying from europe?
I would buy Canadian but the optic Im looking for is non existant in Canada as their distributor went tits up.
 
Burris, Nightforce, Bushnell and Leupold are US brands, made, for the most part, in the US and therefore subject to ITAR. Most everything else comes from Europe, especially the higher-end stuff. Remember that buying from Europe absolves you of having to pay their local sales tax, too, usually 20% or so.

Over the years I've bought optics direct from dealers in Germany, although living on the edge of Europe means that I still have to pay the sales tax. Still waaaaaay cheaper than buying here in UK, though, often by 25 - 30%.

tac
 
FINALLY got ahold of a human being at CBSA. Importing from europe is absolutely ok, and just needs to be declared as a rifle scope. Duty rate is 7.5% on optics and then your applicable GST. For me, this is by far the cheapest route for both Kahles and Minox scopes. And seeing as finding a sticking dealer of a Minox ZP5 is not going to happen in country Im ok with buying overseas.
Hope this helps others looking for european made optics.
 
Airw4ves said:
FINALLY got ahold of a human being at CBSA. Importing from europe is absolutely ok, and just needs to be declared as a rifle scope. Duty rate is 7.5% on optics and then your applicable GST. For me, this is by far the cheapest route for both Kahles and Minox scopes. And seeing as finding a sticking dealer of a Minox ZP5 is not going to happen in country Im ok with buying overseas.
Hope this helps others looking for european made optics.
Click to expand...
That's interesting. How do you find the European distributors or dealers, assuming you can't buy directly from the makers?
 
CBSA doesn't care about ITAR, same as with US imports.

Last time I inquired about this, I was told that you have to fill out a metric ton of paperwork. End user certificate, export permit etc. No EU retailer would bother, EU government really tightened the screws in the last 2 years.
 
They will not export a scope with more than 10x from the UK.
At least not as of a couple years ago.
Other parts of Europe might be fine though
 
Awesome!
This is who I was looking at purchasing through. By far the best prices Ive seen and ship to Canada. I just want to make sure that Minox will accept them for warranty work should I need it.

They were good to deal with though?
 
I know that Kahles scopes bought in Europe through the grey market (Optics-trade.eu) are not covered by warranty in Canada. The buyer has to send the scope back to the Optics Trade first and they will submit a warranty claim within Europe. Kahles scopes from one of our site sponsors cost +- the same and all of them come with a valid Canadian warranty.
 
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