Importing from China into the EU: what you actually pay

The chain, in order

customs value = goods + freight to EU border + insurance
duty          = customs value × duty rate
VAT base      = customs value + duty + clearance costs
import VAT    = VAT base × destination rate
landed cost   = everything above, added up

Two things surprise people here. Duty is charged on the freight as well as the goods, because the customs value is the CIF value — cost, insurance and freight up to the point of entry. And VAT is charged on top of duty, not alongside it.

Transport inside the EU after clearance is your cost but not part of the customs value, so it attracts no duty.

A worked example

A pallet of ceramic tableware, 500 units, delivered to Germany:

• Goods 10,000 · sea freight to the border 1,200 · insurance 60
• Customs value = 11,260
• Duty at 12% = 1,351.20
• Clearance and handling = 150
• Import VAT at 19% on 12,761.20 = 2,424.63
• Total out of your account = 15,185.83

That is 51.9% above the invoice price. But if you can reclaim the import VAT, your real cost basis is 12,761.20 — 27.6% above invoice, or 25.52 per unit.

Both numbers matter and they answer different questions. The first is what you need in the bank on clearance day. The second is what you price against.

Duty is not one number

People ask for "the duty rate on my product" as though it were a property of the product. It is the result of three inputs: the commodity code, the country of origin, and any preferential agreement between them and the EU.

China has no preferential agreement with the EU, so imports pay the standard MFN rate. Those range from 0% on most computers and phones to 12% on textiles and ceramics and 14% on bicycles.

The rate also varies inside a category more than you would expect. Two products that look identical in a catalogue can sit in different commodity codes with several points between them. Get the code from your supplier, then verify it in TARIC yourself — suppliers guess, and the guess is yours to pay for. The method is set out in how to find your HS code.

Anti-dumping duty: the one that ruins deals

This is the item that turns a profitable import into a loss, and it is applied on top of normal duty for specific goods from specific countries.

China has long-standing anti-dumping measures on bicycles and e-bikes, steel fasteners, ceramic tableware and tiles, solar panels, and a rotating list of others. Rates are not marginal — they run well into double digits and in some cases past 60%.

The measures are also product-and-manufacturer specific: the same goods from a named factory can carry a different rate than from an unnamed one. Check before you place the order, not when the container is at the port. By then your options are pay, abandon or re-export.

The €150 threshold does not do what people think

Consignments under €150 are relieved of customs duty. They are not relieved of import VAT — that exemption was abolished in 2021, and it is the reason parcels from Asia stopped being cheap.

Splitting one order into several parcels to stay under the threshold is treated as avoidance where the goods were ordered together, and customs authorities look for exactly that pattern.

If you sell such consignments to EU consumers, IOSS is the scheme that lets you collect the VAT at checkout instead of the buyer being stopped at delivery with a handling fee. Buyers hate the handling fee more than the VAT itself — the detail is in import VAT under €150.

Incoterms decide who pays what — read them before agreeing

EXW means you collect from the factory door and everything after that is yours. Cheap on the invoice, expensive in practice, and it makes you responsible for Chinese export clearance, which is awkward from abroad.

FOB puts the goods on the vessel at the supplier’s cost. It is the usual sensible default for containers.

DDP looks the easiest — the supplier delivers to your door, duty paid. It is the one to treat with suspicion. You often will not see the customs entry, you may not be able to reclaim the import VAT because the declaration was not made in your name, and if the valuation was optimistic the liability can still come back to you as the actual importer.

The cheap-looking DDP quote and the missing VAT reclaim frequently cancel each other out, with the paperwork risk thrown in for free. The full trade-off is in DDP against DAP.

Before you place the order

• Get the commodity code and verify it in TARIC yourself
• Check for anti-dumping measures on that code from China specifically
• Confirm whether CBAM applies — it now covers steel, aluminium, cement, fertiliser and hydrogen
• Agree Incoterms explicitly, and prefer FOB over DDP unless you have a reason
• Run the landed cost calculator with real freight quotes, not estimates
• Check product compliance: CE marking, GPSR, and packaging registration in every country you will sell into
• Make sure you have an EORI number before the vessel arrives, and that it will appear on the declaration

The compliance line catches more sellers than customs does. Goods can clear the border perfectly and still be unsellable because nobody registered the packaging — and registration is due before the first sale, not after: see EPR packaging registration.

Frequently asked questions