Europe is an Organised Crime Continent.

I work for a company that imports and exports items all over the world. Since Brexit, it has become very clear that the EU customs process is a very protectionist one, or one that requires a huge investment on the part of the company importing into Europe to comply with all the petty rules. 

For instance when Brexit first started, we had terrible trouble getting items through customs because the address the person used on their order, their "informal" address, didn't exactly match the "formal" address EU customs had on file for that location. 

Many order were rejected and returned until customers inside the EU learned to look up their formal address and use it as the destination. 

But even then, it became so petty: for instance if a comma was missing, or in the wrong place, it was rejected and returned. 

Even up until a couple of months ago, Ireland was especially petty. An order would be arbitrarily returned for no reason, then if resent, would be accepted. It seemed to be just up to the mood of the individual customs officer that looked at the package. That issue seems to have largely been sorted by an addition to the invoice.

Spain was another egregious rejector of packages. Packages were rejected for being illegal to import into Europe, or restricted, or some similar reason. On items that were originally made in Europe and exported to us in the UK. 

I do remember one item being a solid metal gear knob. I'm not sure what they thought it was, considering it was manufactured in Poland, delivered to a company in Germany who then sold it to us in the UK and we then exported it to a customer in Spain. Maybe they thought it was a weapon?

What I'm getting at is the whole process of selling into the EU from outside is a lottery. Brexit has opened my eyes up to the arbitrary nature of EU officialdom and processes. 

There is no "official" process that can be followed which will guarantee the process flows correctly. There is always the upstart officer in customs or an official department policy that wants to penalise UK companies for exiting the EU. 

That's the way it looks, because the process is so arbitrary. If there was an official process that could be followed that guaranteed entry, then it would look less vindictive and less like criminal activity and more like a professional organisation.

But no. We have to join a club, pay dues sign up to agreements, in order to guarantee trade. The alternative is to fall foul of a complex, unregulated, unprofessional system. 

To me it just looks like more organised crime. Do we slip Euros in the document wallet to grease the palms of the customs officer to guarantee importation? 

It does make you wonder.