UK importers reminded to use correct European country code on customs declarations

Alex Baulf Feb 17, 2022

HMRC has issued guidance to remind businesses importing goods into the UK that they must use the correct two-digit country code (ISO-2 code) on the customs declaration when declaring the European Union country of:

Origin
Dispatch
Preferential origin.

From February 8, 2022, the country code “EU” was removed from the UK Trade Tariff and the Customs Handling of Import and Export Freight (CHIEF) system. HMRC will also soon be removing the code from the Customs Declaration Service (CDS) and the Online Tariff Tool.

European Union Country Codes:

Country	Code
Austria	AT
Belgium	BE
Bulgaria	BG
Croatia	HR
Cyprus	CY
Czech Republic	CZ
Denmark	DK
Estonia	EE
Finland	FI
France	FR
Germany	DE
Greece	GR
Hungary	HU
Ireland	IE
Italy	IT
Latvia	LV
Lithuania	LT
Luxembourg	LU
Malta	MT
Netherlands	NL
Poland	PL
Portugal	PT
Romania	RO
Slovak Republic	SK
Slovenia	SI
Spain	ES
Sweden	SE

Many businesses took advantage of an easement in the TCA in 2021 and used an EU statement to show origin. However, businesses must ensure they declare the correct specific EU country of origin for customs purposes going forward.

Speak to one of our Cross-Border trade experts to see how Avalara can assist with customs and cross-border solutions.

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