Filenews 18 December 2025 - by Vassos Vassiliou
Recipients of thousands of items ordered, through websites, mainly from third countries, suffered and it is worth noting that while some items took a few days to reach Cyprus from the other side of the world, it took up to a month to be forwarded from Larnaca to the recipients. Due to the holidays and the waiting for packages, the complaining does not stop and many of those who bought various products on time complain.
Both the press representative of the Customs Department, Mr. George Constantinou, and the director of the Cyprus Post Mr. Pavlos Pavlides acknowledged the problem, although the latter indicated that at the moment the packages that have not been delivered are the "problematic" ones and that they are limited to a few hundred.
Initially, private shipping companies blamed the delay on the Customs Department and that is why we contacted the Department's press representative, who acknowledges that a problem had indeed been created due to the change in the customs clearance system of packages. As he explained, when the automated system was put into operation, some time of adaptation and familiarization was required. Furthermore, the Customs system had to be connected to the Post Office system, so that they could "communicate". During this time, there was indeed a problem of delays in the distribution of packages which remained for some time at the exchange office of the Customs Department.
In addition, the imposition of VAT on zero-value items compared to the previous VAT regime of €150 and above also played a role in the delays.
He also explained that on the part of the Customs, the whole process is being processed normally, without delays, and as far as the packages forwarded by the Post Office for inspection are concerned, the situation has been completely normalized.
He further stated that now the problem of delays stems from the fact that a number of parcels arrive for inspection with incomplete data, without a description of the items, and so on, so before they are subject to control by the Customs, some preparatory work must be done by the Post Office. It is estimated that perhaps due to understaffing, there is a delay in the packages by about 20-30 days until the data is correctly entered by the Post Office to be forwarded to the Customs for inspection. A problem initially observed with Customs has been overcome, the same spokesman said.
He also observes that the Customs was informed that when citizens contact various courier companies, they are told that the process is delayed at the Customs, which is not the case. As he explains, the incomplete information is registered by the sender, i.e. by the postal services of the country of origin of the packages. In order for the package to be forwarded to its recipient in Cyprus, the postal services undertake to fill in the blanks and register them in the system and examine which of them will be checked, which creates delays.
For his part, the director of the Post Department, Mr. Pavlos Pavlidis, when asked about this, initially observed that especially in the periods before the holidays there is an increased movement of parcels/packages, so some delay may be observed, although as he clarified, the situation is developing smoothly these days, provided that the packages themselves contain all the information about their recipients. They come one day and in most cases they are forwarded to their destination the next day, he said. However, he clarified that when the packages are presented with incomplete information of the recipient or the customs declaration (on the part of the sender) then yes, there is a delay.
At the moment, the large volume of items that were delayed seems to have been forwarded and according to estimates, a relatively long delay is presented by a few thousand packages which probably do not exceed 2,000, said Mr. Pavlidis. The Director of the Post Office clarified that when the packages have incomplete information, the Post Office cannot forward them to the Customs Department for customs clearance and forwarding to the recipient. In this case, the "problematic" packets go out of stream, stack, and take their turn. The shortages are examined and the Post Office takes the data from the label of each product, registers them and then forwards them to the Customs for customs clearance.
Understaffing and system change behind the delays
"Up to 30 days waiting in 'problematic' packages - About 50 vacancies for postal operators burden the distribution"
Commenting on reports of a shortage of men, the director of the Post Department, Mr. Pavlos Pavlidis, stated that for this particular processing there were three people who were employed in other departments, so the Post Office was left in limbo.
Along with these, if we take into account the change in the customs system (which required familiarity), it is understandable that delays would be observed, which were also burdened by the large volume of packages for the period.
Asked whether it is true that there is a delay of up to 30 days, Mr. Pavlidis said that some items have so many information gaps that delays of this scale cannot be ruled out. There are also cases in which the Customs Office may request an invoice that is missing, so until the situation is clarified, there is a delay in customs clearing and consequently in delivery.
He further clarified that the delays do not only concern the packages that pass through the Cypriot Post.
It is noted that no tariffs are imposed on packages coming from European Union member countries, so delays, where and where they are observed, are limited compared to what applies to packages coming from third countries.
The speed of forwarding parcels/packages to recipients is also related to the staffing of the Post Office and it is characteristic that there are currently about 50 vacancies for postal officers and 44 have been announced. So far, 11 employees have been hired. However, it is doubtful whether everyone will remain in the Department, taking into account the leaks observed to other services.
