Hello everyone!
I will let you know something.
I’m Marie from Belgium.
A few weeks ago, I’ve won a lottery from the USA.
Today I’ve received a lettre from the Belgian Post (BPost).
Since 1 July 2021, there are import costs for packages that come from not EU-countries. That makes that I had to pay 24 Euro 
.
I’ve done this because I’m really curious…
Maybe it’s good to know that this can happen and that we have to pay attention…
Greetings Marie
It’s the same in ALL EUROPEAN COUNTRIES. The European Union has set the taxes for incoming packages from outside of EU. A normal envelope with 1-5 cards comes without extra costs but bigger envelopes are already in danger to make extra costs to the recipient.
Wow, so this would impact, not just lottery wins, but an official Postcrossing postcard, where the sender decides to send it in an envelope with a few gifts. If you weren’t expecting it, would you be prepared to spend up to 24 euros?
I received a bigger envelope from a lottery win from USA 10 days ago - I had to pay a bit more than 3 € so that was ok, but I would not like to pay more than 5 €… This is realyl a pity!
UPDATE
I’ve just chat with someone from the Belgian Post.
He says that if you send it as a gift, you don’t have to pay import costs.
But I have paid already, and he can’t return the money.
So on the packet, it must be written that it’s a gift.
I think that this is the way it works.
Gifts (not worth more than 45 euros) are not affected by customs duty though! But a declaration on the outside of the envelope / packet helps! If you’re asked to pay customs for a gift, it’s wrong! Check your country’s customs regulations and good luck with it 
Here’s a screenshot from the German customs website:
I’ve just chat with someone from the Belgian Post.
He says that if you send it as a gift, you don’t have to pay import costs.
But I have paid already, and he can’t return the money.
So on the packet, it must be written that it’s a gift.
I think that this is the way it works.
Best would be a CN22 declaration, that’s the official way to do it
I understand you.
If I understand the rules good, you also don’t have to pay 3 Euros.
Good to know.
I’m happy that there are a lot people who have advice or who can help me!
Thanks a lot for all these information.
I won’t make this mistake two times
I think that there are a lot people that don’t know this.
For sending something other than documents, it needs to be sent as a package (which is more expensive of course) and needs to have a customs form attached (CN22).
(This doesn’t apply within EU borders.)
So be careful when sending to/from the EU you don’t add extras in an envelope, or pay the extra costs and add the customs form and describe the contents as a gift so the receiver doesn’t have to pay.
Or only thin stuff like an extra blank postcard*, stickers, a bookmark which can’t be recognized 
yes blank cards are de facto considered goods and not documents, so not allowed officially. But how should they notice…
I also received a letter from Bpost about a package from the USA. I didn’t order anything and there was no useful information about the package so I didn’t pay the import coast and let it go back to the USA.
Seems so, but on my declaration form the sender wrote clearly gift on the form and it was also only woth around 20 $ … I don’t know why I had to pay the 3 Euro…
