EORI number: who needs one and how to get it
An EORI number identifies you to customs. Every declaration in the EU carries one, so without it a shipment sits at the border and accrues storage charges while somebody applies for it. It is free, the application is short, and most authorities issue it in a few working days — which is exactly why it is worth doing before the first container, not during it.
What the number is
Economic Operators Registration and Identification. One number, valid across all 27 member states, issued once by the customs authority of the country where you are established. It begins with that country’s two-letter code — PL, DE, NL — followed by a national identifier.
In most member states the rest of the number is your existing tax or company number, which is why an EORI often looks familiar. It is still a separate registration: having a VAT number does not mean you have an EORI, and in several countries the two are issued by different authorities.
Who needs one
Anyone lodging a customs declaration in the EU, in their own name or through a representative. In practice:
| Situation | EORI needed |
|---|---|
| Importing goods from outside the EU | Yes |
| Exporting goods outside the EU | Yes |
| Selling only within the EU | No |
| Buying DDP, supplier clears the goods | Not for that shipment — but see below |
| Private individual, occasional parcels | No |
The DDP row is where sellers get comfortable and then stuck. If your supplier clears the goods, their EORI is on the declaration and yours is not needed — but you are also not the importer of record, which has consequences for who may deduct the import VAT. That trade-off is the subject of DDP against DAP.
One number for the whole EU — with two exceptions
The rule is one EORI per economic operator, recognised everywhere. Applying for a second in another member state is not a way to speed anything up; duplicates get invalidated.
Two situations genuinely need a second number:
You are established outside the EU. Then you apply in the member state where you first lodge a declaration, and that country issues you an EORI as a third-country operator. A UK company importing into the Netherlands needs an EU EORI on top of its GB one; they are separate systems since Brexit.
You have separate legal entities. The number belongs to the legal person, not the group. Two companies means two EORIs even under one owner.
How to apply
The application goes to the customs authority of your own country, almost always online, and asks for what it already knows — company name, address, registration number, VAT number, contact details. Some authorities issue immediately, others take a few working days.
Where to apply, by country:
- Germany — Generalzolldirektion, via the customs portal.
- Italy — Agenzia delle Dogane e dei Monopoli, through the single customs portal, on the basis of your partita IVA.
- France — the customs administration, via the douane.gouv.fr portal, on the basis of your SIRET.
- Spain — the Agencia Tributaria, through its electronic office, on the basis of your NIF.
- Netherlands — the Douane, part of the Belastingdienst.
- Belgium — the customs and excise administration of the FPS Finance.
- Poland — through the PUESC platform, tied to your existing tax identification.
- Other member states — the national customs authority; the Commission keeps the list of national contact points.
One phrase worth untangling: an EORI “for Italy” and an EORI “for Europe” are the same number. The country code in it names the authority that issued it, not the country you are allowed to import into — one number clears goods anywhere in the Union. Which authority issues yours is decided by where you are established, or, for a business outside the EU, by where the first declaration is lodged.
Once issued, check it in the Commission’s EORI validation tool. That is also how you verify a supplier’s or customer’s number: the tool confirms validity, and shows name and address only where the holder has agreed to publication.
What goes wrong with it
The number is valid but the name does not match. Customs compares the EORI against the consignee on the paperwork. A company that has moved or rebranded and not updated its EORI record produces a mismatch, and the shipment waits. Update the registration when the company details change, not when a shipment stops.
The forwarder used its own. Convenient, and occasionally right, but if the forwarder is named as importer then the import VAT is theirs to deduct, not yours, and you will be chasing paperwork to prove otherwise. Ask whose EORI goes on the declaration before the goods ship, and expect the answer to be yours.
It is confused with the VAT number. They look similar in countries where the EORI is built from the VAT number, but the import VAT deduction hangs on being the importer of record with the right documents — not on the numbers resembling each other. The VAT number format checker is for the VAT side; the Commission’s validation tool is for the EORI.
Where it sits in an import
The EORI is the identity on the declaration. The commodity code is the classification, and it sets the rate — see how to find your HS code. The customs value is the base the rate applies to.
None of the three substitutes for the others, and only the last two change what you pay. Put the rate and the values into the landed cost calculator to see the total; the EORI is the part that decides whether the declaration can be lodged at all.
Frequently asked questions
No. It is free in every member state. Services offering to obtain one for a fee are filling in a short form on your behalf.
From immediate to a few working days, depending on the country and whether your company data already sits in their systems. Apply before you need it — a shipment held at the border costs storage per day.
No. They are separate registrations even where the EORI is derived from the VAT number. Check yours in the Commission’s validation tool rather than assuming it was issued automatically.
Not for the selling. You need one the moment you import stock from outside the EU in your own name, which is the usual reason a marketplace seller ends up applying.
No. Since Brexit they are separate. A GB EORI covers UK declarations; importing into the EU needs an EU EORI, obtained in the member state where you first declare.
If you have ever imported or exported in your own name, you have one, and it is on the customs declarations and the clearance paperwork your forwarder sent you. It starts with the two-letter code of the country that issued it.
If you cannot find it, check it in the Commission’s EORI validation tool — it confirms whether a number exists and is valid. What the tool will not do is find the number from your company name: for that, ask the customs authority that would have issued it, or your forwarder.
Usually you do not need one. The number is recognised in every member state, and a second one is not a way to speed anything up — duplicates get invalidated.
The exception is a business established outside the EU: it registers in the member state where it first lodges a declaration, and that one number then works across the Union.