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Yes, it is possible to install a parcel box next to your letterbox.

A parcel box enables you to receive parcels safely, even if you are not at home. This can come in handy for parcel deliveries and reduces the risk of having to collect a parcel from a collection point.

If you install a parcel box you should take account of the following requirements:

• Location and visibility: Parcel boxes must be located at the border of the public highway or between the public highway and the main entrance of the building. The box must be clearly visible without the providers of postal services having to look for it. Parcel boxes that also serve as letterboxes must be located at the border of the public highway.
• Clear indication: If a parcel box is present, it should be clearly marked on the letterbox. If the house number is not visible from where the parcel box is located, the house number must be clearly visible on or near the parcel box. If a house number comprises more than one letterbox, each parcel box must bear the corresponding number.
• Accessibility and safety: The access to the parcel box and the opening must be unobstructed, easy and safe for providers of postal services. Individual parcel boxes must be constructed in such a way that unauthorised persons cannot have access to the content.
• Dimensions: The parcel box must at least be suited to accept parcels of 33 cm by 21 cm by 12 cm and the top of the opening must be at a maximum height of 140 cm, measured from the spot where one normally has access.

That is how the parcel box meets the requirements and how parcels can be delivered safely and efficiently.

If you install a letterbox you should take account of the following requirements:

• The letterbox must be placed within reach (free, easy and without danger) at the border of the public highway.
• The house number must be visible and legible from the location of the letterbox. If you also have a box number, please mention it clearly visibly and legibly on or near the letterbox concerned.

Standards for letterboxes:

• The letterbox aperture must be at least 23 cm wide and 3 cm high.
• The lower edge of the aperture must be situated at a minimum height of 70 cm and the upper edge of the aperture can be situated at a maximum height of 170 cm above the place from where one usually has access to the letterbox.
• The letterbox must be large enough to be delivered a C4 size unfolded item (229 mm by 324 mm) with a 24 mm thickness without damage.

For full details of the regulations, consult the official texts, available via the following link: Justel database.

Your parcel’s sustainability depends on various factors, such as the packing material used, the mode of transport and the postal service provider you choose.

Nowadays, many providers of postal services offer sustainable options, such as CO2-neutral transport or the use of recycled packing material.

If you are the person having placed the order, you should contact the seller as soon as possible. The latter is responsible for delivering the parcel.

If your rights are not respected or if a dispute with the seller occurs, you can

1. report this to the Report website,
2. submit a complaint to or ask for mediation by the Consumer Mediation Service and/or
3. make use of mediation through alternative dispute resolution (ADR).

Both sender and addressee can also ask for information or submit a complaint to the postal service provider who has or should have delivered the parcel.

If you are dissatisfied with the postal service provider’s response, you can turn to the Ombudsman Services for the Postal Sector.

In case of purchases made on a site that is registered in the European Economic Area delivery must take place within the period indicated by the online web shop, unless the buyer has expressly asked for and the seller has accepted another period.

However, if no period is mentioned on the website or if no period has been agreed on by the seller and buyer, delivery must take place within 30 days.

Most delivery services offer the possibility to track the parcel.

That service can be offered by the postal operator carrying out the delivery or by the Internet trader.

Tracking is possible by e-mail, text message, a web page or a mobile application of the postal operator and/or the Internet trader.

• Tip: In order to ensure you do not miss any deliveries you can have your parcel delivered in a postal point. On the site postalpoint you can find all postal points of all the operators within a range of up to 10 km from the address you have entered. You can not only find the precise address, but also the opening hours of the various postal points.

Some Internet traders offer the possibility to change the delivery address during the handling of the shipment. It may be that this option is offered at a charge.

The postal service provider who is tasked with delivering your order can also offer the possibility to change the delivery address when you are not present. Usually that information is provided when you are tracking the shipment.

• Tip 1: If possible inform the postal service provider about your absence.  If you call in another person to accept the shipment, also inform that person of your absence and grant a mandate in case the identity is checked.

• Tip 2: In order to ensure you do not miss any deliveries you can have your parcel delivered in a postal point. On the site postalpoint.be you can find all the providers of postal services within a range of up to 10 km from the address you have entered. You can not only find the precise address, but also the opening hours of the various postal points.

Parcel at the front door

• A deliverer is allowed to leave a parcel at the front door. However, this poses a risk to the seller, because something can happen to the parcel before the buyer gets hold of it. Sometimes sellers request prior consent to leave the parcel at the door. If you give that consent, it makes it harder for you to prove afterwards that the seller is responsible for the theft at the front door, for instance. 

Parcel delivered to the neighbours

• If nothing has been arranged for delivery to the neighbours and the web shop delivers to the neighbours by way of the courier, this is at the web shop’s risk. If prior consent has been given the seller may assume that the neighbours were designated by the buyer to accept the parcel.

Note in the letterbox

• When the deliverer has unsuccessfully tried to deliver your parcel, he can leave a note in your letterbox, digital box or try a second time. If you do not receive a note or if you receive the parcel at a later time, you can click through to: What am I to do if my parcel is damaged or has been delivered too late or not at all?

These rules only apply to sales by professionals to private persons (B2C).

For example, an online purchase made by a Belgian consumer on a British or Chinese platform:

• The buyer must pay the VAT on the goods imported into the EU from a third country.
• For goods with a maximum value of € 150 and purchased online outside the EU, the buyer must pay the VAT during the sale, if the seller is registered for the one stop shop (IOSS).
• If the seller is not registered for the IOSS or if the amount of the purchases exceeds € 150 the buyer will in principle have to pay the VAT to the transporter during the delivery.

Please verify whom you buy from and especially whether the VAT and the import duties are included in the selling price, so as to avoid any surprises.
Check your order and your invoice!

More info on the website of the Federal Public Service Finance: for private individuals  //  video private individuals

A shipment coming from a country outside the European Union can be subject to a check and various duties and fees: VAT, import duties (also called “customs duties”) and excise duties (only on specific products such as alcohol, tobacco, etc.).

“Customs formalities” are administrative formalities concerning the collection of the various duties and fees.

Some Internet traders give an estimation of the customs duties and formalities beforehand as soon as the order is placed.

Some postal operators will ask a compensation for performing those customs formalities, payable in addition to the duties and fees; others have already integrated those costs in the fixed costs of their products/services.

Yes, provided that there is an interruption of at least 8 hours.