Square Enix statement

[Sebazy]

is it created in the UK ? or is imported ? because see if it is CREATED in the UK then I would agree with you but if it is imported

Please just stop already =/

Going on assumptions based on labelling from previous CE boxes and games, the DVDs, BluRay, Art Book and general packaging will be produced within the EU (Guessing Poland?), It's a fairly safe bet that the statue is going to be produced in China. Everything will be assembled within the EU (Going to stick with Poland again). All of this will then be shipped to a warehouse in the Midlands (UK) where it'll be processed and shipped off across the UK and mainland Europe.

Now I really can't stress this next part enough Mei so please pay attention here:

Shipping components to be later assembled into a complete package will fall under very different shipping and taxation costs compared to you or I importing retail goods along the same route.

At the point of sale, any EU/UK bound CE box will be sat in the Midlands depot and the country of origin is marked on the barcode as the EU, none of these boxes, nor any of there components are being shipped from the US or so your USD import comparison has zero relevance.

The whole Tax/Tariff stuff being banded around is largely irrelevant due to VAT being broadly equivalent across Europe and the UK (as detailed earlier). If you actually think that SE pay retail style VAT, shipping and insurance costs as per Mei's example when they import those dragon figurines from China then you are sorely mistaken. Of course SE will face container and shipping fees but it's nothing like the costs associated with a single item.

The bottom line here is that this is an item that is being shipped from the UK across Europe with a near 35% price hike tacked onto one country for no justifiable reason (backed up by SE's silence on this matter).

Thus the big question here is whether or not SE's practice of enforcing localised pricing coupled with the GBP gouge on the EU store falls foul of EU consumer law.