Shopping for health products from overseas (even from the EU) has suddenly become more expensive. This does not apply only to medicine but also food supplements, such as vitamins, that do not need a prescription.

I have been purchasing from Healthspan for over 13 years, with the items delivered by Maltapost without any additional charges. This has changed since the beginning of this year.

I received a notice from Maltapost last january informing me I had received a package and highlighting “€5 charges”. I wrote to Maltapost, asking for an explanation of such charges. After five e-mails over a period of two weeks, Maltapost finally responded: “Kindly note that certain items (example: vitamins) and other health produce, irrelevant whether coming from an EU or non-EU country, are forwarded to Port Health Department (PHO) for inspection... May I kindly inform you that, as from January 2019, a charge of €5 is applicable for every item that is forwarded to PHO.”

When I asked Maltapost why they had suddenly started applying these charges and without any advance notice being given (except for a note hidden in the FAQs, under ‘Others’, on their website), I got no reply.

This letter is just to bring this matter to the attention of buyers because shopping for such products from anywhere outside Malta will now attract an additional charge of at least €5. In my case, it was €10 because Healthspan post the packets as soon as they are available, which means €5 for each packet, even though it is one order.

I do not see why non-prescription health products coming from the EU (and, therefore, subject to EU regulations) need to be inspected by the Port Health Department. Does not this constitute a trade barrier?