Binding tariff information (BTI): an EU ruling on your product's customs code

What a BTI decision binds, and for how long

A BTI decision settles one thing: the tariff classification of the goods it describes. It binds customs authorities as against you only for goods whose customs formalities are completed after the date it takes effect. It binds you from the day you receive it, or are deemed to have received it. It is valid for three years from the day it takes effect (UCC Art. 33(2)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 33, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 33(3)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 33, paragraph 3Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). It is not issued with retroactive effect, so it does not cover goods already cleared (Commission, EBTI).

It binds both ways. If the code in your decision carries a higher duty than the one you hoped for, you use it all the same: the holder must declare the decision and use it when importing or exporting the goods it covers (Commission, EBTI; Implementing Reg. Art. 20Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2447, implementing the Union Customs CodeArticle 20Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

The decision is yours alone. Only you, or a customs representative acting in your name and on your behalf, can invoke it (Commission, general information, point 6). For a holder outside the EU, the indirect representative that declares its goods uses it too (Commission BTI guidance, section 10). A decision your supplier or your customer holds does not cover your declarations.

Advice from a customs office is not a ruling. Customs can tell you, before you apply, how it reads the legislation on your goods, but that advice does not bind it; only a BTI decision does (Commission, EBTI).

The rules survive the new customs code. Regulation (EU) 2026/2108 replaces Regulation (EU) No 952/2013Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeThe whole regulationClick opens the law on the EU Publications Office. from 21 September 2027. It keeps BTI on the same terms: issued on application, binding on customs and on the holder, valid three years. The existing delegated and implementing acts keep applying until the Commission replaces them (Regulation (EU) 2026/2108, Art. 15, 284(1), 287(2)). The articles are renumbered: Art. 33 becomes Art. 15, Art. 34 becomes Art. 16, Art. 22 becomes Art. 8, Art. 23 becomes Art. 9 and Art. 52 becomes Art. 20. The time limits for accepting an application are reworded, up to 60 days in all where customs asks for more information (Regulation (EU) 2026/2108, Art. 8(2)).

Who can apply, including a business outside the EU

You can apply for goods you plan to import or export. Customs does not accept an application that relates to no intended use of the decision or of a customs procedure. Nor does it accept one made at any customs office, by you or for you, for the same goods as a decision you already hold (UCC Art. 33(1)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 33, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

The application names you by your EORI number, and that field is mandatory (Commission, general information, box 1). A business established in the EU has one from its own country. A business outside the EU can apply once it is registered with EU customs and has an EU EORI number. Its application usually goes to the customs authority that gave it that number, but it may also go to the country where the decision will be used (Commission BTI guidance, section 5.1). How a business outside the EU gets its number is in EORI number.

There are three ways to apply, and they decide who holds the decision (Commission BTI guidance, sections 5.1 and 5.2):

Using the decision from outside the EU takes one more step. The declarant, the person in whose name a customs declaration is lodged, must be established in the EU, except in a few cases, such as an occasional declaration that customs accepts (UCC Art. 170(2)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 170, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 170(3)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 170, paragraph 3Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). So a holder outside the EU normally has an indirect representative established in the EU lodge the declaration. That representative must quote your BTI reference. Make sure it knows of the decision and has what it needs to show that the goods match it (Commission BTI guidance, section 10). Who can act for you at import is in importer of record.

Where to apply, and in which language

Apply to the customs authority of the EU country where you are established, or of the country where you will use the decision (Delegated Reg. Art. 19(1)Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446, supplementing the Union Customs CodeArticle 19, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The Commission lists the customs authorities issuing BTIs in each country.

Applications and all later correspondence are electronic. Most countries take them through the EU Customs Trader Portal, which you sign in to through the Commission’s Uniform User Management and Digital Signature system. Croatia, Germany, Poland and Spain run a national BTI portal instead (Commission, EBTI).

Customs may ask you to translate any attached document into the official language, or one of the official languages, of the country where you apply (Commission, general information, point 8). If you neither translate nor ask customs to translate, at a cost, the Commission’s guidance says the application should not be accepted for insufficient information (Commission BTI guidance, section 3).

What the application asks for

These are the parts of the application that decide your code, with the Commission’s names for them (Commission, general information; Annex A to Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446, Title II):

What you enter about the applicant, the place of your customs accounts, the contact person and the commercial denomination is confidential (Commission, general information, point 7). By applying, you agree that the decision, with its photographs, images and brochures, is published on the Commission’s website, except what you marked confidential (Delegated Reg. Art. 19(2)Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446, supplementing the Union Customs CodeArticle 19, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). If customs takes photographs of your sample or has it analysed, say whether those results are confidential too; anything not marked is published in the EBTI database (Commission, general information, box 10).

Get the facts right. A decision based on inaccurate or incomplete information from you is annulled (UCC Art. 34(4)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 34, paragraph 4Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.), and the annulment takes effect from the start date of the decision (Commission, EBTI).

How long it takes, and what it costs

The decision takes effect on the day you receive it, unless it says otherwise (UCC Art. 22(4)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 22, paragraph 4Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

There is no fee for the decision. Customs charges nothing for applying the customs legislation during office hours (UCC Art. 52(1)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 52, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.), and the Commission states that BTI decisions are free of charge (Commission, general information, point 9). Customs may charge for analyses or expert reports on the goods and for the postage of returning them to you (UCC Art. 52(2)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 52, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.), and for translations it does at your request (general information, point 9). The Commission’s guidance adds that if you decline to pay for an analysis customs needs, it cannot issue the decision, and that some customs authorities return samples only if you collect them (Commission BTI guidance, section 8.2).

Using your decision on a customs declaration

Every declaration of goods covered by your decision states its reference number (Implementing Reg. Art. 20Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2447, implementing the Union Customs CodeArticle 20Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Give the reference to your broker, courier or indirect representative: the declarant answers for the declaration, and the Commission’s guidance asks holders to make sure their representatives know of every BTI decision they hold (Commission BTI guidance, section 10).

To rely on the decision, you must be able to prove that the goods declared correspond in every respect to the goods it describes (UCC Art. 33(4)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 33, paragraph 4Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). A new material, a new function or a new model may fall outside it. Tell the customs authority without delay of any change after the decision that may affect it (UCC Art. 23(2)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 23, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

Without a BTI decision, the code your declarant gives stands until customs checks it. Customs can check a declaration after the goods are released (UCC Art. 48Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 48Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.) and claim duty that a wrong code left unpaid, as a rule for up to three years after the debt arose (UCC Art. 103(1)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 103, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The rest of that risk is in what a wrong code costs.

When a BTI decision ends before three years

A BTI decision cannot be amended, and customs does not revoke it at your request (UCC Art. 34(5)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 34, paragraph 5Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 34(6)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 34, paragraph 6Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). If you think the code is wrong, appeal to the customs authority that issued the decision, under that country’s appeal procedure (Commission, EBTI).

Extended use. If your decision stops being valid because of a Commission classification measure, or is revoked, you may keep using it for up to six months for binding contracts based on it that you signed before. Apply to the customs authority that issued it within 30 days, stating the quantities and the EU countries where the goods will be cleared. A Commission measure may exclude that period or shorten it. After a change in the nomenclature, or an annulment, there is no extended use (UCC Art. 34(9)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 34, paragraph 9Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Customs sets the end date and the quantity, and the use stops once that quantity is cleared (Implementing Reg. Art. 22Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2447, implementing the Union Customs CodeArticle 22Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

The UK equivalent: the Advance Tariff Ruling

For goods into or out of Great Britain, the binding ruling on a commodity code is HMRC’s Advance Tariff Ruling. You can get one only if you have an EORI number starting with GB and intend to import into or export from Great Britain. A ruling is generally valid for 3 years (HMRC, Check what you’ll need).

How it works, in HMRC’s words (HMRC, Apply for an Advance Tariff Ruling):

• Apply before all customs procedures are completed; decisions are not made retrospectively.
• Make a separate application for each type of goods, with brochures, manuals, photographs and samples where appropriate.
• HMRC replies in 30 to 120 days.
• Your ruling is published in HMRC’s search for Advance Tariff Rulings, without your personal information and confidential details.
• Declare the ruling’s reference on your customs declaration, and tell whoever completes your customs documents the code to use.
• If you disagree, ask HMRC for a review, or appeal straight to the tribunal.

For goods into or out of the EU, HMRC points you to a BTI decision. For goods into or out of Northern Ireland, HMRC itself issues BTI decisions, to a business with an EORI number starting with XI. A business not established in Northern Ireland that moves goods into an EU country applies to that country’s customs (HMRC, Check what you’ll need; HMRC, Apply for a Binding Tariff Information decision). How UK and EU codes differ after the sixth digit is in TARIC code.

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