A packing list is not an inventory
A removals packing list exists so that a crew can find things at the other end. A customs inventory exists so that somebody who has never seen your house, and is not inclined to take your word for it, can understand what is in a sealed vehicle.
Those are different documents with different standards, and the gap between them is where nearly all the difficulty on this route lives.
What a good one has
Six things, and all six matter:
- A number on every package and every item of furniture.
- A specific description — not "kitchen" but what is actually in there.
- An honest value, as used household goods rather than replacement cost.
- Restricted items listed separately rather than buried in the middle.
- Packing that matches, so a package can be opened and closed again.
- A copy in your hands, because you are the declarant and not us.
Value it as what it is
This is the part people get wrong in both directions. Valuing a used sofa at what a new one costs is wrong and unhelpful. Valuing everything at almost nothing is worse, because it looks like exactly what it looks like.
The honest answer — what these used items are actually worth, secondhand, today — is also the easy answer, and it is the one that causes no trouble.
Separate the restricted things before you write the list
Not while writing it and certainly not after. Anything restricted needs to be identified first, decided about, and then either listed separately or taken out of the load.
Burying a restricted item in a long list is not a neutral act, and it is not treated as one.
Read it before you sign anything
You are the declarant. If there is something on the inventory you do not recognise, or something missing that you know is in the load, that needs resolving before it goes rather than afterwards.
Any remover who is reluctant to give you the full document is one to ask questions of.
A necessary caveat
We are removals contractors, not customs agents, tax advisers or lawyers. This describes the general shape of the process so you know what to ask about. Confirm current requirements with the Norwegian customs authority or your own adviser.