Single market still not free
One of the biggest advantages that came with Poland's membership in the EU was supposed to be the ability of Polish firms to freely trade goods across the EU's internal borders. Unfortunately, that possibility has still not fully been realized, as some companies in other EU member states are still refusing to sell their products to Polish companies for the same price they offer at home.
A case in point is Sony UK, which sells the popular Vaio laptop for a much cheaper price than any to be found here. Theoretically, EU regulations should allow a Polish company to buy the UK Vaio at the UK price, but when the WBJ - prompted by complaints from a Poland-registered company - attempted to do so, we ran into a brick wall.
Caught in the web
We first went to Sony's European website, www.sonystyle-europe.com, and tried to buy the laptop online, but were unable to do so since it was impossible to register an order using a Polish VAT number. We called Sony UK's corporate-customer helpline, but to no avail. We even went ahead and arranged a delivery address in London, but that was no help to our case since, according to Sony UK's online sales representative Nina Smith, "it is corporate policy not to sell any products to companies without a UK VAT number, even if the delivery address is in the UK."
A spokesman for KPMG in the UK said that no laws exist to justify the company's policy, but that a current clampdown by UK Customs officials on so-called "carousel fraud", by which companies use out-of-country addresses to circumvent VAT rules, had put many UK companies on edge, and that they were "being careful". The spokesman said that the legality of the clampdown is the subject of a court case in the EU known as the "Bond House case", a verdict on which is expected January 12.
Against regulations
The EU's Spokesman for Internal Market and Services, Oliver Drewes, says Sony's policy flies in the face of EU directives: "Companies must be able to buy products in any EU country and transport them to another EU country. Sony's action is not typical, but unfortunately it still happens within the EU."
Sony's E-Solutions Europe Manager in Belgium, Elena Ruiz Martinez, explained that it was not an unwillingness on Sony's part to sell us the computer at all, but a glitch in the online software that was at the root of our trouble. According to Martinez, Sony could not ship the Vaio to Poland because Poland does not have a Sony online store.
"A solution would be to provide us with a delivery address in any of the European countries covered by Sony Style Store, we would deliver the unit free of charge to that given address," she wrote in an e-mail. We provided a shipping address in Finland and were quoted R2,023 - R500 higher than the price indicated on Sony UK's website. When we provided Sony with our UK address, assuming that the increase may have been due to shipping costs, we received this response from Sony: "Please note that prices change according to the country they are being sold (invoiced) to but not delivered, therefore even if we have this unit delivered to UK the price will remain the same as it is still invoiced to Poland."
We contacted Sony's European corporate affairs office asking if this were true, since it is clearly a breach of EU law. We were told that the price difference was the result of a clerical error, and that a Vaio akin to the one we requested was now available for a "similar" price to that which we requested.
Welcome to the jungle
Thus concluded our attempt to make an online cross-border purchase in the EU. With some major hang-ups and a two-month delay, a purchase was possible, but not quite the one we wanted to make.
Sony's policy may or may not stem from the Bond House case, but our difficulties highlight the jungle Polish companies much cut a swathe through in order to trade across EU borders. Our case is not singular, as the EU's Drewes notes: "Companies [sometimes] attempt to sell their products at a higher price in different parts of the EU and prevent companies from other EU countries from buying them in the country where the product is sold at a lower price."
Until such practices are ended, free trade between EU member states will remain a myth, and Polish businesses will be unable to reap the full benefits of Poland's hard-fought EU membership.
