Mpeg audio licence/Sisvel - problems in Europe

Hello everyone

I am new member in Salehoo. I am starting my adventure with import from China and I have found some matters that are really important during import process, that is at customs. In Poland there is very strict law and controls of duty officers and many electronic products need to be licenced by SISVEL licence. This is in US - MPEG Audio licence, I think. Very few companies have this licence in China, only some manufacturers and as I am asking some distributors about it they do not know anything about this licence. But in Poland there is huge problem about this. This licence is paid by companies who produce or distibute products which have mp3 technology and have to pay for this patent to patent owners (such as Philips). Do you know this subject, have you come across with it. Please write if you have problems with Sisvel, how do you cope with it. This is huge problem because I will not be able to import any mp3/mp4 players also mobile phones nor computers. Polish officers do not give to importers their cargo and also have some fine because they purchased products that have no right to be implemented in European market. Sorry for my English language, it is not very good, I know:) Thanks for all comments.

Welcome to SaleHoo, danjakplan! Nice profile picture :)

Sisvel was actually created by an Italian company and the SISVEL license is now being required by most countries in Europe as a standard. Sorry but there is no way of circumventing this patent license - for the products to be released by customs your manufacturer has to have a SISVEL license on their products.

The best suggestion I can think of is use the list of licensed companies provided on their site and for sure you won't encounter any problems with your country's customs department. Here's the link to the list of companies worldwide:

Link hidden: Login to view

Hope this helps :)

Hi danjakplan,

Thank you for this crucial information. Now that you have highlighted the importance of this Sisvel patent licensing and as it being required for some products to be imported in Europe, this will save other members from potential trouble.

From my understanding this license needs to be obtained by the manufacturer, and not necessarily the reseller. I have read that Sisvel is the company that developed decoding of mp3 codec, and that they have the patent on the process. I also noticed that when purchasing mp3's from China, the manufacturer usually offers them with or without Sisvel. So that means it will not be based on you not having the license, you will just need to import from the manufacturers who can provide it.

To learn more about the Sisvel license - Link hidden: Login to view

Let's hope to receive more feedback from members about this matter.

Welcome to SaleHoo! :)

Thanks for your comments:)

Yes, the best option is to choose the companies from the list of website sisvel.com. Many importers from Poland lost their purchased products with mp3 decoding even if they had other certificates like CE, ROHS but the manufacturers and distributers could not prove that they are Sisvel licencee. Some of them tried to pay this after dispatching goods to Europe from China and sign the agreement with Sisvel but there is no chance for doing it! And often they loose goods and have to pay fine to Sisvel for importing without this licence. I have been talking with some Chinese dropshippers and they said that they will give my all required certificates and documents but I realized that they even do not know what is Sisvel licence. And what is important this licence is very expensive and the products are also more expensive about 2-5 USD per item. So that is problem because not many exporters from China efford to have Sisvel. Hope for more suggestions from Salehoo members. Best regards!