"New EU regulations and what will happen?" Topic

Quite a few posts from UK manufacturers and companies on social media about stopping EU market sales after 1 Dec.
Seems the new EU regulations are almost draconian in their requirements and for many small businesses, this will be a possible final nail in the coffin.

Thoughts? Opinions?

Tell us more! What regulations?

The main sticking point for any business outside the EU selling into the EU is the requirement to appoint a product safety representative based in the EU, from 13 December 2024, and the cost of doing so for a catalogue of several hundred or thousand low-priced products.

It only affects commercial non-food products, and private sellers are unaffected. It also affects sales to Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein as part of the EEA. Given that I can count sales to Iceland over 20 years on the toes of one hand, the effect may be somewhat limited in some countries.

It's not just UK businesses that are affected: businesses in the USA and Australia, for example, also in theory have to comply with the GPSR (General Product Safety Regulation). Smaller businesses are most greatly affected, as anyone big almost certainly has EU representation of some sort.

How practical it is to enforce the rules, and the consequences or chances of being caught and penalised are not really that clear. Some of us have therefore decided to stop supplying the EU temporarily. Rule changes on digital products and VAT on imports have had unintended consequences on small businesses selling to the EU before…

EU information at link

I'm sure "brokers" will step in to "represent" small companies. For a fee, of course.

The EU sucks. Everybody should exit it and take a do-over.

It's not just having to abide by the regulations it's having to employ someone in the EU! If they want someone to do the work in their country shouldn't they pay?

Seems to be aimed at Chinese exporters, with UK and USA being minor players caught in the crossfire.

The EU is awesome. Britain were fools to leave.

The "brokers" already exist. But the costs are for "real" businesses not the little outfits we are used to.

Being in the U.S. I'm more concerned about a new tariff policy. If tariffs get put on "everything" as promised, I'll probably be out of business in a few months. It's already hard to compete with 3D printing, significantly higher prices would be a real blow.

The EU is awesome. Britain were fools to leave.

If we'd remained, we'd still have to produce product safety information for each and every product we sell. Like businesses within the EU will have to do. So it's not entirely madness in this instance to tell the EU where to go. Saves me a lot of work. :-)

EC,

3D printers and printer supplies are from China, so maybe it will even out.

Buy my 15mm Napoleonics, shipped from America. The finest edible miniatures made, being therefor exempt.

"The EU sucks. Everybody should exit it and take a do-over"

Being forced to live in a country which has recently taken that route, I really wouldn't recommend it.

Personally I quite like having consumer protection and environmental standards rather than having to wade through rivers full of sewage.

Brexit meant higher cost for EU-buyers. It's not the manufacturers not being able any more to sell, it's the buyers who look elsewhere (and find that there ARE possibilities within the EU). North Star deducts the VAT, Steve Barber even moved to France !

Interestingly, it would appear that the EU should provide specific guidance relating to smaller operators (the majority of figure producers), Perhaps they will post here to clarify.
However, that does not negate the requirement to appoint a product safety representative based in the EU as mentioned by Fighting 15s above.

I'm more concerned about a new tariff policy

I think the markets will sort themselves out. Vietnam is ready to be the new China and a 20% price increase on Army Painter can make opportunities for Monument Hobbies which is sort of the point.

Games Workshop? They'll raise prices 25% and blame the 20% tariff 🤪

The EU has always been a protectionist organisation, great to be in in most ways – but Bureaucratic beyond belief! The only good thing I have found in Brexit is that our politicians cannot blame all their errors on Europe!

The EU was a good idea but has become a gravy train for 3rd rate politicians who have a lovely time in a parliament without power that bizarrely operates in Brussels for three weeks per month and one week (which in EU terms is four days) In France, presumably to keep the French élite happy.

Also drinking the gravy is a vast army of bureaucrats who feel that they have to justify their existence by inventing masses of laws and regulations to "improve" the life of the rest of the population who are otherwise unable to live their lives without this kindly dictatorship.

DBDD

Well said DBDD. When I was a university student the EU seemed like an interesting idea. The reality often makes a dream into a nightmare.

It also impacts sales into Northern Ireland. I don't think many people in Northern Ireland have twigged to that, yet; lots of wargamers over there that we may not be able to supply from 12th December. :-(

DBDD & Shag.

Such a broad generalization. Many of those regulations and laws got their start because of greedy corporate execs trying to maximize profits and screw the consumers and their employees. Banks crashing the economy whilst reaping vast profits, or auto manufactures not installing seatbelts because it is too expensive, etc. As Martin said above, I'd rather have environmental regulations than burning rivers full of chemicals. (That actually happened in the US).

Remember also that "vast army of bureaucrats" are often mid-level government employees doing a job to feed their families and they don't see any of that "gravy".

TANSTAAFL.

You're paying, one way or the other. The rest of the "advantages" you receive are minimal, if not offset by the cost of the bureaucracy.

It's the same with tariffs. You're already paying the cost, one way or another. A tariff is a bargaining chip to reduce the cost of domestic goods compared to foreign goods. It is absurd that in the US (and the UK and EU), for example, it is cheaper to manufacture goods in China, deal with a totalitarian government, ship goods overseas and overland and put up with the regulations for the same than just manufacture the goods on your own home soil. That's insane. It's also not good for your own local workers, as it strips jobs away from them, and devalues their wages, too. (And if you're concerned about the environment, then the LAST thing you should want is to have manufacturing in China and other second and third world countries where you have absolutely ZERO say in their environmental policies (of which they often have none and don't give a rat's patoot about).

Again, TANSTAAFL.

The status quo in any economic situation is always ALWAYS determined by its effect on the consumer and the laborer. Always.
If you have a tax on "business", who actually pays that tax? A: The consumer (through higher prices) or the laborer (through reduced wages). Period. End of analysis. All businesses exist to make a profit. If they can't make a profit, they go out of business. Period. Thus, raising their costs in anyway must result in either a reduction of cost elsewhere (typically, reduced wages) or an increase in prices to the consumer. There is literally nothing else that can happen.

So if regs increase cost (and they must), then prices must go up or wages must go down. If bureaucracy is placed between the consumer and the producer, then the bureaucracy must be paid— and that payment will come from the consumer; it cannot come from any other source. This is the most basic truth of economics, which no "ism" of any sort can act against, and no government can legislate away.

It's all an enormous balance. If a government tries to weight the scale on one side, it will be weighted equally on the other just by the natural forces of economics. A cost here increases the price there. Nothing any government does will stop that. Ever.

"private sellers are unaffected"

So move everything to Etsy?

I'm a retailer. The whole reason for my business is (a) you can shop multiple brands in one order and (b) place small orders for imported goods so postage makes sense for, say, three packs of Greeks.

A 20% tariff does not lead to a 20% price increase. To keep margins companies will increase prices more than 20% to "break even." If I buy a widget for $1 USD and sell it for $1.50 USD my gross margin is 33%. If I buy it for $1 USD+0.20 and sell it for $1.70 USD my margin is now 29%. So I need to raise prices MORE than 20% to maintain my stock valuation.

+1 Extra Crispy – we made this dumb decision and we have to live with it, until we swallow our pride and rejoin

+1 Martin Rapier

With the USA about to slap 20% tarrifs on Every import the EU just looks better and better

Don't disagree. That's exactly what I'm talking about.
But it's also not what a tariff is for— the point of a tariff is to force better business deals. It's a tool. Any government who uses it as a tax is foolish, as the tax always hits the consumer and impedes economic growth.
But if used as a tool, a tariff can bring foreign governments to the table, and force them to come to terms both more fair and favorable to domestic producers, which will result in the tariff being dropped.

And nothing occurs in a vacuum. If tariff negotiations open up domestic production of goods, then the profitability of domestic goods increases— and this means that domestic laborers earn more money, as demand for labor to produce those domestic goods goes up. More money allows people to make luxury goods choices they previously could not make— such as buying toy soldiers.
"A rising tide lifts all boats," as JFK rightly said.
The domestic consumer, empowered with more money in his pocket, will absorb the cost increase (likely temporary) associated with a tariff structure, especially as his decision to pay the increase cost is entirely up to him.

Keep in mind that the USA is the largest consumer market in the world in terms of actual buying power. Every nation (not run by madmen) wants access to our market— indeed they must have access to our market if their economies are going to thrive. Thus, they must come to the bargaining table. They need us more than we need them. So you'll see them huff and puff and bluster… and then give in, creating a more favorable trade situation both ways. They will give in, and as a result the tariff will lower, or even vanish, because the bargaining chip will have done its purpose.
And yes, that's true of the EU, too.

Andrew Walters 20 Nov 2024 9:59 a.m. PST
"private sellers are unaffected"

So move everything to Etsy?

Not a solution. If you're a business seller, you're a business seller regardless of marketplace. A private seller in the UK has to limit income from private sales to £1,000.00 GBP And HM Revenue & Customs will see private sales of the same items offered by the seller commercially as commercial income.

I use Etsy for a few specialised products. I have still shut off the EU in Etsy.

Back in the 1990s and 2000s when I was importing a lot. Even after the wholesale discount, the added cost of shipping , sometimes like from Italy it was more than the miniatures, and Vat and other fees. My retail price became significant.
Now this sounds like a nightmare for a small hobby shop.