Importing into the EU

Helping companies to source products from outside the EU

The Access2Markets portal provides information on EU tariffs and other measures applied to all products imported into the EU, notably:

• EU tariffs;
• rules of origin;
• taxes and additional duties;
• import procedures and formalities;
• product requirements, and;
• trade flow statistics.

The EU has a number of trade agreements with its partner countries. Access2Markets is also available for companies in those countries to look up information on how to access the EU market and benefit from preferential trade agreements.

EU action when imports are not fair

The EU applies trade defence measures such as anti-dumping measures, anti-subsidy measures or safeguards when EU industry is harmed by dumped or subsided imports.

• Latest information on current trade defence cases
• Official publications on trade defence cases
• What are trade defence rules and what are anti-dumping, anti-subsidy and safeguard measures?
• Are you a small or medium-sized business affected by trade defence rules?
• How to lodge a complaint:
  • anti-dumping complaints
  • anti-subsidy complaints
  • safeguard complaints
• How to request a refund:
  • anti-dumping refunds
  • anti-subsidy refunds

Integrated System for Managing Licences (SIGL)

The Integrated System for Managing Exports ad Import Licences, or SIGL (Système Intégré de Gestion de Licences) provides information on quota levels applied in the European Union for imports of clothing, footwear, steel and wood products.

The information on the SIGL website gives the results of the Commission's management of the quotas at any given point in time.

Monitoring of imports of bananas from Peru, Columbia, Ecuador and Central American countries

In the trade agreements with the above mentioned countries, the EU has negotiated a Banana Stabilisation Mechanism by which preferences may be temporarily removed if imports reached a given level. The EU also agreed that the imports of bananas into the EU would be monitored.

• Bananas import monitoring report
• More information on the EU banana market

Facts about EU imports

• EU import tariffs are amongst the lowest in the world.
• The EU market is the most open to developing countries. Fuels excluded, the EU imports more from LDCs than the US, Canada, Japan and China put together.
• It is not just exports that are essential to economic growth and job creation but increasingly also imports. Two-thirds of EU imports are raw materials, intermediary goods and components needed for our companies' production processes. The share of foreign imports in the EU’s exports has increased by more than half since 1995, to reach 13%.