Customs declaration CN22 and CN23: what goes on them, and the EU electronic data rule

What you do:

1. Pick the form by how you post. A letter-post item carries a CN22; a CN23 is for items whose contents are worth more than 300 SDR, or whenever you prefer it. A parcel carries a CN23 (UPU Regulations, Art. 20-001 and Art. 17-209, and the International Bureau’s commentary on Art. 20-001). A post may set its own rule: Royal Mail now uses the CN23 for every item with goods, and its platforms generate a CN22 only where combined labels are selected (Royal Mail, International Non-Personal Correspondence services user guide, July 2026, pp. 3 and 25).
2. Describe each article in detail, for example “men’s cotton shirts”. “Spare parts”, “samples” and “food products” are refused. Give the quantity, the net weight, the value of each article and the total with the currency, and tick the category: gift, documents, sale of goods, commercial sample, returned goods or other (UPU Regulations, Art. 20-001, para 2.12 and the CN23 and its instructions).
3. For commercial goods, add the six-digit HS code of each article and its country of origin. The UPU asks for the HS code where the destination country has said it requires one. The CN22 has one line for “Commercial Items only; if known enter HS tariff nr & origin” (UPU Regulations, Art. 20-001, para 2.8 and Royal Mail’s example CN22, User Guide p. 26). How to find the code is on commodity code.
4. Give the same data electronically. Your post office, or the shipping platform you book on, sends it ahead to the destination post, which may hand it to its customs (UPU Regulations, Art. 08-002 and Art. 20-001, para 2.2). The electronic data must repeat what is on the form. Royal Mail requires a UPU S10 barcode on every item with goods, so the data can be tied to the item (Royal Mail, Electronic customs data, archive copy).
5. Sell to EU consumers in parcels of EUR 150 or less? Add your IOSS number to the customs data. It lets the parcel enter without import VAT (VAT Directive Art. 143(1)(ca)Directive 2006/112/EC, the VAT Directive (consolidated text of 14 April 2025)Article 143, paragraph 1, point (ca)Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Since 1 July 2026 each item still pays a EUR 3 customs duty (Council Regulation (EU) 2026/382, Art. 2).
6. From 1 November 2026, give the product identifiers of each item sold at a distance to EU consumers: the merchant identifier your shop assigns, the manufacturer’s own identifier and, if the item has one, its standardised manufacturer identifier (Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/1022, Art. 2(3)).
7. Sign the form. You answer for it alone. Posts take no liability for a customs declaration, and a false or misleading one can bring a fine or seizure of the item (UPU Regulations, Art. 20-001, para 1; UPU Convention, Art. 23.3; instructions on the CN23).

CN22 and CN23 are postal forms, and the 300 SDR limit is a commentary

The CN22 and CN23 belong to the Universal Postal Union (UPU), a United Nations specialised agency and the postal sector’s main forum for international cooperation (UPU). The EU did not create them. Member posts use them under the UPU rules. A letter-post item that goes through customs carries a CN22 on the outside, or a tie-on label in the same form, and small packets always carry a CN22 or a CN23. A parcel carries a CN23, or the CP 72 set that contains one (UPU Regulations, Art. 20-001, paras 2.1 and 2.9; Art. 17-209, para 1).

The value line comes from the International Bureau, the UPU’s secretariat. Its commentary says items whose contents exceed 300 SDR must carry a CN23, and that for lower values the CN22 may be used “unless the sender prefers to use the CN 23”. The article text itself sets no value (Convention Manual, commentary on Art. 20-001). The SDR is the Special Drawing Right, the UPU’s monetary unit; the International Monetary Fund fixes its value each day (UPU Regulations, Art. 17-001 and commentary). The UPU text gives no rule for converting 300 SDR into your currency. It says the posts fix the local equivalents of their charges (UPU Regulations, Art. 17-002), so your post sets the local equivalent. The post you use may also set its own rule: Royal Mail now uses the CN23 for every item with goods.

Not every item needs a form. Royal Mail’s guide exempts personal correspondence: letters, brochures and catalogues addressed to an individual that are not a sale of goods (Royal Mail, International Non-Personal Correspondence services user guide, July 2026, p. 3).

What goes on a CN22 or CN23

The CN22 is a small label; the CN23 is a full A5 form. Both ask for the same core facts.

• Sender and recipient. Name, address, postcode, country. The CN23 also has boxes for telephone numbers, the sender’s customs reference, and the importer’s or addressee’s reference (tax code, VAT number or importer code), which is optional.
• Category of item. Gift, documents, sale of goods, commercial sample, returned goods or other. Royal Mail does not let a business declare a gift through the postal channel; a promotional “gift” that is not part of a sale goes under “other”, with a value (Royal Mail, Electronic customs data, archive copy).
• Description, quantity, net weight and value of each article, then the total gross weight and total value. Give the currency. “Commercial item” means any goods sent in the course of a business transaction, whether or not they are sold for money.
• HS tariff number and country of origin, for commercial items. The HS number has six digits. “Country of origin” is where the goods were produced, manufactured or assembled.
• Postage and fees paid, with any other charge, such as insurance, shown separately.
• Licence, certificate and invoice numbers, if the item travels with them. Attach an invoice for commercial items. A certificate of origin travels the same way, where one is needed.
• The declaration and your signature, confirming that the particulars are correct and that the item holds no dangerous or prohibited article.

The EU reads the electronic copy, and the paper form must match it

The UPU rules require the posts to exchange the CN22 or CN23 data electronically, in the UPU message standard ITMATT. The data must repeat what the paper form says, and each item carries a unique S10 identifier (UPU Regulations, Art. 08-002; UPU Convention, Art. 8.1). If the two differ, the paper form is the customs declaration. Austria, Belgium, France, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands and Spain, and Norway, reserve the right to treat the electronic data as the declaration instead (UPU Regulations, Art. 20-001, para 2.13; Final Protocol, Art. R VIII for letter post and Art. R XLV for parcels, set against Art. 17-209, para 5). For a parcel to those countries, the post may treat the data you gave as the declaration.

EU law itself names the CN 23 in three notes, in the data rules for the entry summary declaration of postal items: the postal item number declared must be the one that corresponds to the CN 23, and the goods item number is the item number within the CN23 (Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446, Annex B, notes to data elements 11 03 000 000 and 12 05 001 000, columns F43 and F44). It does not name the CN22.

For air mail, the EU postal operator lodges the entry summary data before loading

Goods that enter the EU must be covered by an entry summary declaration, a safety and security declaration lodged before arrival (UCC Art. 5(9)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 5, paragraph 9Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 127(1)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 127, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The carrier lodges it. Another person may do so instead: the importer, the consignee, or anyone who can present the goods (UCC Art. 127(4)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 127, paragraph 4Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The electronic system for these declarations is the Import Control System 2, known as ICS2 (Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2447, Art. 182). Its first release put a duty on postal operators and express carriers in air transport to lodge a minimum dataset (Implementing Decision (EU) 2019/2151, project 17).

For postal items flown into the EU, the postal operator lodges the minimum dataset, at the latest before the goods are loaded on the aircraft that brings them into the EU. In this rule a postal operator is one established in and designated by an EU country (Delegated Regulation Art. 106(2)Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446, supplementing the Union Customs CodeArticle 106, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Implementing Regulation Art. 183(1)(c)Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2447, implementing the Union Customs CodeArticle 183, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Delegated Regulation Art. 1(25)). You do not file it. You supply what goes into it, and the CN22 or CN23 data is that source. Two of its rules matter to you:

• The description must be precise. It must be a plain-language description that lets customs identify the goods. General terms such as “consolidated”, “general cargo”, “parts” or “freight of all kinds” are not accepted (Annex B, note to data element 18 05 000 000, columns F20 to F34 and F43). Royal Mail says the same of “clothing”, SKU numbers and print or design descriptions (Royal Mail, International Non-Personal Correspondence services user guide, July 2026, p. 25).
• The six-digit HS code is required for commercial goods, not for goods of a non-commercial nature (Annex B, note to data element 18 09 000 000, column F43).

Parcels of EUR 150 or less sold at a distance to EU customers may enter on the H7 declaration

On import, goods are declared for release for free circulation. Every customs declaration is lodged by electronic data processing, with paper allowed only in specific cases (UCC Art. 6(1)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 6, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 158(1)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 158, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 158(2)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 158, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). For a consignment of an intrinsic value of EUR 150 or less, sold at a distance to a customer in the EU, EU law allows a reduced dataset, the H7 declaration. It may be used for goods under no prohibition or restriction (Delegated Regulation Art. 143aDelegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446, supplementing the Union Customs CodeArticle 143aClick opens the article on EUR-Lex., VAT Directive Art. 14(4)(2)Directive 2006/112/EC, the VAT Directive (consolidated text of 14 April 2025)Article 14, paragraphs 4 and 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The H7 declaration asks for:

• the description of the goods, precise enough for identification and classification;
• the six-digit HS code. It takes no eight-digit CN code and no ten-digit TARIC code, so a commodity code to six digits is all the H7 needs; the EU’s longer TARIC code belongs to the standard import declaration;
• the gross mass, the intrinsic value with its currency, and the transport and insurance cost to the destination;
• the importer and the declarant, and, as supporting documents, the product identifiers.

It does not ask for the country of origin. That matches the EUR 3 duty, which applies “without considering the origin of the goods” (Annex B, Title I, Chapter 3, Section 11, column H7; Council Regulation (EU) 2026/382, recital 6).

Postal operators have a second route. A postal operator may lodge the H6 declaration, a reduced dataset, for goods under its responsibility that are worth up to EUR 1 000 and are under no prohibition or restriction (Delegated Regulation Art. 144Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446, supplementing the Union Customs CodeArticle 144Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The H6 takes the eight-digit CN code, which the H7 does not (Annex B, data elements 18 09 056 000 and 18 09 057 000, columns H6 and H7). Goods outside these limits are declared on the standard import declaration, H1, unless another route applies.

Who is the declarant. For a distance sale of goods in a consignment of EUR 150 or less, the declarant is one of these, in order: the person using the IOSS or its indirect representative; the person using the special arrangements or its indirect representative; the importer’s indirect representative; or, where none applies, any other person who can give all the information and present the goods (Annex B, data element 13 05 000 000, as amended by Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/1022). The declarant must be established in the EU, apart from listed exceptions (UCC Art. 170(2)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 170, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.), so a seller outside the EU is rarely the one that lodges it. Your carrier, post or IOSS intermediary does, from the data you gave. Who counts as importer for the duty and the VAT is on DDP shipping to Europe and importer of record.

The IOSS number goes into the declaration data

For parcels of EUR 150 or less, the import is exempt from VAT when the IOSS number has been given to customs at the latest when the import declaration is lodged (VAT Directive Art. 143(1)(ca)Directive 2006/112/EC, the VAT Directive (consolidated text of 14 April 2025)Article 143, paragraph 1, point (ca)Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 369lDirective 2006/112/EC, the VAT Directive (consolidated text of 14 April 2025)Article 369lClick opens the article on EUR-Lex.). In the declaration, the number is the “special VAT number attributed for the use of this scheme” in the data element for the additional fiscal reference (Annex B, data element 13 16 000 000). How to register and where else the number goes is on IOSS.

On the paper, the UPU’s CN23 layout has no box named for an IOSS number. The example CN22 in Royal Mail’s January 2026 guide has boxes for the company VAT number, the company EORI number, a “pre-reg. tax scheme” and an addressee identification number. Royal Mail’s Click & Drop treats an IOSS number as a pre-registration tax scheme, passes it in the electronic data, and shows it on the CN23 “where appropriate” (Royal Mail, International Business User Guide, archive copy and Royal Mail Click & Drop Help Centre). Your EORI number goes in the same part of the data.

The IOSS number travels in the electronic data. Do not write it on the parcel yourself; the IOSS guide says so too. Where Royal Mail prints it on the form, its platform does that.

Under the special arrangements, used without IOSS until 30 June 2028, the person for whom the goods are destined owes the VAT and the person presenting the goods to customs collects it (VAT Directive Art. 369yDirective 2006/112/EC, the VAT Directive (consolidated text of 14 April 2025)Article 369yClick opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 369zDirective 2006/112/EC, the VAT Directive (consolidated text of 14 April 2025)Article 369zClick opens the article on EUR-Lex.). From 1 July 2028 the special arrangements are deleted, and the seller, or the marketplace treated as the seller, owes the import VAT on a parcel of EUR 150 or less sold without IOSS (Council Directive (EU) 2025/1539, Art. 1(1), Art. 1(6), Art. 2(1)).

Product identifiers become mandatory on 1 November 2026

From 1 November 2026, the declaration of each item sold in distance sales of imported goods must carry its product identifiers. They are an alphanumeric code for a model, batch or article. The declaration asks for the merchant product identifier, which an online seller, marketplace or platform assigns; the non-standardised manufacturer identifier, which the manufacturer assigns without an international standard; and, if the item has one, the standardised manufacturer identifier. The same rule covers the H1, H6 and H7 declarations. Providing them early, from 1 July 2026, is allowed (Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/1022, Art. 2(3) and the Annex; Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446, Art. 1(57) to 1(60)). They go in the data element for the supporting document. Nothing on the CN22 or CN23 form has a box for them. The Commission explains the aim as helping customs detect and block unsafe or non-compliant goods (Commission guidance on the flat fee). Without them, the declaration lacks data the rule makes mandatory.

From 1 July 2028 distance-sale and IOSS imports go by data, not by declaration

Regulation (EU) 2026/2108 sets up the EU Customs Data Hub. Until 30 June 2028 every consignment is covered by a customs declaration. From 1 July 2028, importers for distance sales, and persons using IOSS, provide the data through the hub instead, and the hub’s functions are to be operational by 1 June 2028. Other importers keep lodging customs declarations until 28 February 2031. From 1 March 2031 they may use either route (Regulation (EU) 2026/2108, Art. 285(1) to 285(4)). The EUR 3 duty runs until the same date; the Commission is to assess by 1 December 2027 whether the hub will be ready (Council Regulation (EU) 2026/382, Art. 2 and Art. 3(2)).

Regulation (EU) 2026/2108 also repeals the Union Customs Code from 21 September 2027, and keeps the existing delegated and implementing acts in force until the Commission replaces them (Regulation (EU) 2026/2108, Art. 284(1) and 287(2)). The UCC articles named on this page are those in force today.

Sending from the UK: Royal Mail and Parcelforce

From the UK, Royal Mail sets the same two layers. Electronic customs data is mandatory for items sent abroad, personal correspondence excepted. You give it in addition to a physical customs declaration on the item, and Royal Mail says an item without it is likely to be delayed, returned or destroyed. The shipping platforms Royal Mail names, Click & Drop and Pro Shipping among them, capture the data and print the form (Royal Mail, Electronic customs data, archive copy).

• Which form. Royal Mail’s July 2026 guide says a customs declaration is required for any item to a destination outside the UK, and that the CN23 is now the form: its shipping solutions create it, and they no longer accept or generate the CN22, except where dual labels are selected. Its example CN23 has the VAT/EORI number box, the HS tariff number and the country of manufacture (Royal Mail, International Non-Personal Correspondence services user guide, July 2026, pp. 3, 25 and 26).
• Northern Ireland to the EU. Royal Mail says no customs declaration is required. On its platforms you still give the data and a form is generated, but Royal Mail advises you not to attach it (Royal Mail, Electronic customs data, archive copy).
• Parcelforce. HMRC says a Parcelforce export parcel carries a customs declaration, as a paper despatch pack or online, with the same information. It needs a full description of the items, with quantity, weight and value, for every parcel, and an inaccurate description can bring a customs penalty (HMRC, VAT Notice 703, section 7.6). HMRC’s page does not call it a CN22 or CN23.
• Parcels into Great Britain. For a consignment of £135 or less, sold directly to a customer in Great Britain, you charge UK VAT at the point of sale; no Customs Duty is charged at that value, other than on excise goods. Above £135, normal import rules apply: unless you ship duty paid, the delivery company bills the recipient before delivery or at collection (GOV.UK, Goods sent from abroad; HMRC, VAT and overseas goods sold directly to customers in the UK; Royal Mail, International Non-Personal Correspondence services user guide, July 2026, p. 26: customs charges fall on the sender or the recipient, depending on the service). The UK rules are on DDP shipping to Europe.

A wrong or missing declaration costs you the item

The post takes no liability for your declaration. If the contents are described in general terms, the HS code is missing where it is required, or the electronic data is missing, the item can be held, returned to you or, in Royal Mail’s words, destroyed. In the seven EU countries and Norway above, the post may treat the electronic data as the declaration. The CN23’s own instructions warn of delay for the addressee and of a fine or seizure for a false or misleading declaration.