Texto para as questão.

Un callejón sin salida para las compras fuera de la UE

Burocracias y sobrecostes inesperados en la aduana amargan las importaciones a cientos de usuarios.

Todo parece fácil cuando alguien está de vacaciones en un país exótico y el vendedor le asegura, que todo el transporte está pagado. Y mucho más cuando, cómodamente sentado en su casa, alguien hace clic en la ventana correspondiente del ordenador. Pero lo cierto es que a medida que aumentan las compras en países de fuera de la Unión Europea (un 12% de españoles hizo una de estas adquisiciones a través de la Red en 2015; en 2009 fue el 3%) también lo hacen las quejas, pues las gangas se convierten en ocasiones en una auténtica pesadilla por culpa de los retrasos, los laberintos burocráticos y los sobrecostes inesperados que puede acabar, incluso, en el abandono de la mercancía.

María (prefiere no dar su apellido) aún no ha tirado la toalla, pero ha estado a punto. Compró por 280 euros (gastos de envío presuntamente incluidos) un kimono japonés por Internet a principios de diciembre con a intención de venderlo en la tienda vintage Sin embargo, no solo no ha podido poder retirarlo del Aeropuerto de Barajas, sino que para hacerlo le exigen 148 euros, lo que eleva un 52% el coste inicial. “Me parece una estafa”, se queja.

Todo tipo de guías, desde las oficiales en la web de la Agencia Tributaria hasta las de modestas páginas de consumidores, recuerdan que casi todas las mercancías procedentes de fuera de la UE han de pagar IVA (hasta el 21% para compras de más de 22 euros a empresas y de más de 45 a particulares) y arancel (normalmente del 2,5% en compras de más de 45 euros a particulares y de más de 150 a empresas). Eso, si no se trata de un producto especialmente protegido en Europa con impuestos más altos: por ejemplo, las bicicletas procedentes de China, Camboya, Pakistán y Filipinas pagan un arancel del 48%.

Texto adaptado de elpaís.es, 17/02/16, disponible en : http://politica. elpais.com/politica/2016/02/11/actualidad/1455196121_315087.html

Brazil Announces Visa-Free Entry for U.S. Citizens Ahead of Summer Olympics

To ease travel for the 2016 Summer Olympics, Brazil will allow U.S. tourists to enter the country for up to 90 days without a visa.

Despite U.S. passport holders being some of the most powerful when it comes to travel, Americans can't just come and go as they please. But tourists traveling to Brazil this summer are now in luck: In the hopes of drawing people to the country for the 2016 Summer Olympics, held in Rio de Janeiro from August 5–21, Brazilian officials have announced they are temporarily waiving visa requirements for travelers in the country from June 1 through September 18. In addition to U.S. tourists, the visa waiver also applies to citizens holding passports from Japan, Australia, and Canada.

Why the sudden generosity? Call it common sense—and a nifty tourism strategy. Brazil's economy is in a deep recession, and an increase in travelers would both ease logistics in and out of the country surrounding the Olympics and provide a much-needed financial boost. Brazilian Tourism Minister Henrique Eduardo Alves has high hopes for the three-month initiative, saying that the goal is for leisure travelers from the four countries to increase by 20 percent. Flights to South America have been on the rise this year, and Brazilian airline Azul made an all-you-can-fly pass available in country as added incentive to visit. But outside of this visa-waive period, getting to Brazil can typically be a hassle: U.S. citizens still have to make an appointment at their nearest Brazilian consulate; arrive with a valid passport, extra photo, completed application, and copy of their round-trip ticket; and cough up the $160 fee. Now you won't have to trek to a consulate to apply for a visa—saving yourself time and cash that can be better used on beachside caipirinhas. What's Portuguese for "thank you"?

[Slightly adapted from a text on http://www.cntraveler.com/]

The new regulations will be in force

They must be bananas! Family caught trying to smuggle fruit

1. A family attempting to smuggle a large haul of fruit, nuts and plants that were potentially carrying economythreatening toxic fruit flies were thwarted by a keennosed sniffer dog. The Perth family were flying home from Sydney when they tried to get 68 bananas, 15 mangoes, six kilograms of betel nuts, two kilograms of plant material, two pineapples, three plants and seven ginger bulbs past biosecurity officers at the Perth Domestic Airport. They were stopped by a keen-nosed sniffer dog and his handler. Travellers are prohibited from fruit taking into Western Australia (WA.).

2. Numerous bags full of fruit, nuts and other plant items were found in the family's possession. A written warning was given to the family as it was their first offence, and the fruit disposed of in a 'deep burial'. Department of Agriculture and Food WA Border Biosecurity acting director Lloyd Mason told Daily Mail Australia that in all the fruit confiscated totalled around 42KG. He also said the intercepted items - which could carry pests like the destructive Queensland fruit fly - was the largest haul made by a dog unit in three years. 'The items posed a considerable quarantine risk to our valuable agricultural industries and could have spread a range of unwanted pests and diseases,' a press
release quoted him as saying.

3. Bananas and mangoes are known carriers of the Queensland fruit fly, which WA suffered an outbreak of last November. The state had been one of only three in the country free of the fruit fly before it was discovered in Perth. That outbreak - which damaged the state's economy, was most likely caused by fruit carrying the pests crossing borders, it was reported. One infected fruit was all it took to cause an outbreak, Mr Mason said. Queensland fruit flies are not the only pest which bananas and mangoes can host. They also carry the Mediterranean fruit fly - a damaging species already in WA, and many other plant pests.

[adapted from an article on the Daily Mail website http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3409481/Family-caught-trying-smugglemangoes- bananas-pineapples-Sydney-Perth.html]