Duty relief for imports and exports

Duty relief schemes allow you to pay less or no duty on imports and exports from and to non-EU countries.

If you are importing or exporting in the EU, you won’t have to pay any duty.

Trading outside the EU

Where the EU has a Free Trade Agreement in place with another country you can claim relief through a ‘trade preference’ to pay less or no duty.

There are rules around eligibility for trade preferences.

The rate of duty and the relief depends on the:

• type of goods
• country the goods are being exported to
• country the goods originate in as set by the ‘rules of origin’

To claim a trade preference you need to:

• get the correct commodity code for your goods
• make sure your goods comply with the rules of origin
• be able to provide proof of where your goods came from
• make sure you comply with transport rules

HM Revenue & Customs helpline
0300 200 3700
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Other duty relief schemes

If you’re importing from or exporting to a country where there is no Free Trade Agreement in place with the EU, you might be able to apply for one of these relief schemes:

• temporary admission if you import goods for a specific use for a limited time - for an exhibition, for example
• Inward Processing for goods imported from outside the EU, processed in the EU and then exported to another non-EU country - or exported within the EU if you’ve already paid duty
• Outward Processing (including textiles) for goods that are temporarily exported to a non-EU country - for repair or processing, for example
• customs warehousing when you wish to store goods duty and VAT free
• the community system of duty relief for goods that promote culture and science
• duty suspensions and tariff quotas for raw materials, parts or half-finished products
• returned goods relief for goods you reimport
• end-use relief for certain goods like fish or cheese