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Starting on 24 July 2026, the United States changed the customs clearance procedure for international postal shipments. The single 10% duty rate was abolished — the amount payable now depends on the product category. Ukrposhta updated its systems in advance and continues to deliver shipments to the United States, while some European postal operators have suspended this route. Reliable packaging before an international shipment helps protect an artwork...

In spring 2026 deliveries to the Gulf states came to a virtual standstill. Air routes have now largely reopened, but with restrictions, surcharges and longer transit times. Here is where paintings can be shipped again, and where the situation remains unstable.   Professional packing helps protect a work of art during international transport and handling. What happened in early March On 1 March 2026, following airspace closures across the region, international...

From 1 July 2026 the requirement to fit a tachograph extends to light commercial vehicles between 2.5 and 3.5 tonnes used for international goods transport. These are precisely the vehicles most often used to move paintings and sculpture into Europe — so the change bears directly on art logistics.   Vans are widely used for the individual transport of paintings and other large-format works of art. Who is actually affected Let us be precise,...

Most shipments of artwork from Ukraine to the United States and Western Europe transit through Poland. In 2026 two regulatory regimes changed there at once — the EU-wide pre-arrival declaration system ICS2 and Poland's transport monitoring system SENT. Here is what applies to paintings, and what does not. When transiting through Poland it is important to prepare the shipment details in advance: the HS code, an accurate description, the consignee's data and the...

A family origin, low price, or amateur level of execution does not automatically mean that a painting can be taken abroad without documentation. To determine whether a permit to export a painting from Ukraine is required, it is necessary to consider the age, authorship, materials, provenance, and possible cultural value of the artwork. The export of paintings from Ukraine is governed by specific rules, and the procedure for issuing certificates authorizing the export of cultural...

An old painting and a modern print may be the same size, but they require completely different protection. A print usually has a smooth and stable surface, while an old painting may be highly sensitive to pressure, vibration, humidity, and temperature changes. For this reason, professional painting delivery must take into account the age of the artwork, its technique, the condition of the paint layer, and the strength of its frame.

Damage does not always make an artwork impossible to sell. A painting with cracks, a torn canvas, or areas of paint loss may still retain artistic and collectible value. Its final price depends on the artist’s reputation, the rarity of the work, the nature of the damage, the possibility of restoration, and its documented provenance. For this reason, buying paintings and subsequently selling them requires professional assessment.

Consignments weighing more than 50 kg must be shipped on a pallet, which provides the clearance needed for pallet trucks and forklifts. The consignment must also be sealed. For heavy art consignments a pallet provides stability, allows safe handling with a pallet truck or forklift, and reduces the risk of damage to the packaging. Why a pallet, rather than simply a crate on the floor of the vehicle The reason is that a shipment travelling abroad passes through...

The leading international carriers — FedEx, UPS, DHL — regularly update their rules for oversized consignments. For artists, galleries and collectors these changes have a direct bearing on the cost, transit time and paperwork involved in shipping paintings abroad. Shipping larger consignments of artwork — paintings, works on paper, sculpture, and particularly anything over 100×100 cm — requires purpose-built protective packaging. In such cases a crate is...

The US tariff changes have rewritten the logic of shipping paintings to America. Since 29 August 2025 every parcel, whatever its value, must be formally declared, and the recipient pays duty on delivery. Gifts, personal effects and commercial shipments valued up to 800 dollars once crossed the border free of charge; that threshold is now gone for good. For an artist in Ukraine this is not an abstract Bloomberg headline but a direct hit to the cost of a sale. A client in Brooklyn who...