EORI number: who needs one, which EU country issues it, and what to give your courier

Every customs declaration names the person who lodges it by their EORI number, so a courier or broker who declares your goods cannot finish the paperwork without one.

Who needs an EORI number

The duty to register is written in the Union Customs Code, Regulation (EU) No 952/2013Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeThe whole regulationClick opens the law on the EU Publications Office. (UCC), and filled in by its Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446, supplementing the Union Customs CodeThe whole regulationClick opens the law on the EU Publications Office. and Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2447Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2447, implementing the Union Customs CodeThe whole regulationClick opens the law on the EU Publications Office.. It reaches an “economic operator”: a person who, in the course of business, is involved in activities the customs legislation covers (UCC Art. 5(5)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 5, paragraph 5Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Importing and exporting are such activities. Buying goods that are already in the EU and selling them on inside the EU is not.

“Established in the EU” has a fixed meaning. A company is established in the EU if it has its registered office, central headquarters or a permanent business establishment there. A person is established where they habitually live (UCC Art. 5(31)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 5, paragraph 31Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). A permanent business establishment is a fixed place of business, with people and technical resources permanently present, through which customs operations are wholly or partly carried out (UCC Art. 5(32)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 5, paragraph 32Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

A business outside the EU registers only in the cases the Delegated Regulation lists. It must register before it lodges, in the EU:

• a customs declaration, other than an oral declaration, an act deemed to be a declaration, a traveller’s paper declaration, the H7 declaration for consignments up to EUR 150 sold at a distance, or a postal operator’s declaration (Articles 135 to 144 of the Delegated Regulation, which include Article 143a), a temporary admission declaration, and two transit cases for common-transit countries, Andorra and San Marino;
• an entry or exit summary declaration;
• a temporary storage declaration;

or before it acts as a carrier by sea, inland waterway or air, or requests proof of the customs status of Union goods (Delegated Reg. Art. 5(1)Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446, supplementing the Union Customs CodeArticle 5, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

The Commission’s EORI guidance gives the plain case: a Chinese or Swiss exporter whose goods are consigned to an EU consignee “is not required to apply for an EORI number”. The same example adds that lodging one of those declarations in the EU would require registration.

A person who is not an economic operator registers only where EU or national law requires it, or where a declaration’s data rules demand an EORI number (Delegated Reg. Art. 6(1)Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446, supplementing the Union Customs CodeArticle 6, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Such a person who lodges declarations only occasionally, where customs considers that justified, need not register (Delegated Reg. Art. 6(2)Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446, supplementing the Union Customs CodeArticle 6, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). That exception is only for a person other than an economic operator; a business that imports or exports cannot use it.

Which EU country issues it

One country, once. The number is “unique in the customs territory of the Union” (Delegated Reg. Art. 1(18)Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446, supplementing the Union Customs CodeArticle 1, paragraph 18Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.), and only one is assigned to each person (Implementing Reg. Art. 7(2)Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2447, implementing the Union Customs CodeArticle 7, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

• Established in an EU country: that country’s customs, always. A company in Sweden that clears all its imports in Hungary still gets its number from Swedish customs; that is the Commission’s own example.
• Outside the EU: the customs of the EU country where you first lodge a declaration or apply for a decision (UCC Art. 9(2)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 9, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Delegated Reg. Art. 5(6)Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446, supplementing the Union Customs CodeArticle 5, paragraph 6Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Pick the country where your goods will actually clear first.
• Outside the EU, with a permanent business establishment in several EU countries: any one of those countries, and still only one number.

Each EU country designates its own registering authority, and the Commission publishes the list (Implementing Reg. Art. 6Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2447, implementing the Union Customs CodeArticle 6Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The number starts with the two-letter code of the issuing country, followed by up to 15 letters and digits.

Two refusals follow from the one-number rule. The Commission’s guidance says a customs authority may refuse to register a business outside the EU that already holds an EORI number from another EU country, or from UK customs in respect of Northern Ireland. It may also refuse one it has reasonable grounds to think will not first declare in that country.

How to apply

Each EU country runs its own portal and form, and the number is free. The form, the documents, the waiting time and the GB, XI and EU numbers are in apply for an EORI number. From a day after it is issued, the EORI number check shows whether it is live.

When a courier, broker or fulfilment service asks for it

They ask because they are about to lodge a customs declaration for your goods, and the declaration has two identity fields.

• The declarant. The person who lodges the declaration in its own name, or in whose name it is lodged (UCC Art. 5(15)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 5, paragraph 15Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). This field always takes an EORI number (Annex B, data element 13 05 017 000).
• The importer. The person who makes the import declaration, or on whose behalf it is made. This field takes that person’s EORI number. Where the importer is not registered because it is not an economic operator or not established in the EU, it takes “the number required by the legislation of the Member State concerned” (Annex B, data element 13 04 017 000). So each EU country sets what goes there for a consumer or for a business outside the EU.

A consumer buying from you needs no EORI number. An EU business buying from you and importing the goods needs its own. You need yours when the declaration is made in your name.

Direct or indirect: whose declaration it is

A customs representative acts in one of two ways. Direct: in your name and on your behalf, which makes you the declarant. Indirect: in its own name but on your behalf, which makes the representative the declarant (UCC Art. 18(1)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 18, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). A customs representative must itself be established in the EU, unless it acts for someone not required to be established there (UCC Art. 18(2)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 18, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

This decides what a seller outside the EU can do. The declarant must be established in the EU (UCC Art. 170(2)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 170, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Three exceptions exist: transit and temporary admission declarations; a person who lodges declarations only occasionally, where customs considers that justified; and a person from a neighbouring country presenting goods at the border office next to it, where that country grants EU businesses the same in return (UCC Art. 170(3)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 170, paragraph 3Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Regular imports are not occasional. So a business outside the EU that imports regularly does it through an EU representative acting indirectly, or through an EU company of its own.

The price of indirect representation is shared liability. The declarant owes the import duty, and in indirect representation the person on whose behalf the declaration is made owes it too (UCC Art. 77(3)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 77, paragraph 3Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). That is why a broker acting in its own name wants your details, and your number where you have one.

A marketplace or fulfilment service

Stock headed for an EU fulfilment warehouse is declared to customs on the way in, and someone is named as importer for it. A marketplace or fulfilment programme that asks for your EORI number is asking who that importer is. If it is you, you need the number from the country where the first declaration is lodged. If an EU company of yours imports the goods in its own name, give that company’s details as the programme’s form requires. If an indirect representative declares them for you, you are still the importer named on the declaration (Annex B to Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446, supplementing the Union Customs CodeThe whole regulationClick opens the law on the EU Publications Office., 13 04 000 000), so give your own. Who that importer is under customs law and under product law, and who can take the role for you, is on importer of record.

If you have none when the goods arrive

The declaration waits until a declarant with a number lodges it. Goods presented to customs are in temporary storage from that moment (UCC Art. 144Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 144Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.), and within 90 days they must be placed under a customs procedure or sent back out (UCC Art. 149Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 149Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Breaking the customs rules is penalised under each EU country’s own law, and the UCC requires only that those penalties be effective, proportionate and dissuasive (UCC Art. 42(1)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 42, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

What IOSS means for parcels of EUR 150 or less

The Import One-Stop Shop (IOSS) is a VAT scheme, not a customs registration. It covers distance sales of goods imported from outside the EU in consignments of an intrinsic value of no more than EUR 150, except goods subject to excise duty (VAT Directive Art. 369lDirective 2006/112/EC, the VAT Directive (consolidated text of 14 April 2025)Article 369lClick opens the article on EUR-Lex.). A seller outside the EU uses it through an intermediary established in the EU, unless it is established in a country with a qualifying mutual-assistance agreement with the EU and ships the goods from that country (VAT Directive Art. 369m(1)Directive 2006/112/EC, the VAT Directive (consolidated text of 14 April 2025)Article 369m, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 369m(1)(c)Directive 2006/112/EC, the VAT Directive (consolidated text of 14 April 2025)Article 369m, paragraph 1, point (c)Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The IOSS number is a VAT identification number used only for that scheme (VAT Directive Art. 369q(1)Directive 2006/112/EC, the VAT Directive (consolidated text of 14 April 2025)Article 369q, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 369q(4)Directive 2006/112/EC, the VAT Directive (consolidated text of 14 April 2025)Article 369q, paragraph 4Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Given to customs at the latest when the import declaration is lodged, it makes the import itself exempt from 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.). The VAT is due on the sale instead, at the moment the payment is accepted (VAT Directive Art. 369nDirective 2006/112/EC, the VAT Directive (consolidated text of 14 April 2025)Article 369nClick opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Registering, where the number goes and how double VAT is fixed are on IOSS.

An IOSS number does not replace an EORI number. The declaration still names a declarant, and that field takes an EORI number.

Since 1 July 2026 the declarant for goods sold at a distance to an EU customer, in a consignment of EUR 150 or less, is set in this order. First, the IOSS user or its indirect representative. Next, a user of the special arrangements for import VAT or its indirect representative. Next, the importer’s indirect representative. Last, anyone else able to give customs all the information and present the goods (Annex B, data element 13 05 000 000, as amended by Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/1022). So if you sell under IOSS, either your courier or intermediary declares your parcels as your indirect representative, with its own EORI number, or you are the declarant and need yours.

These consignments now pay customs duty. The EUR 150 customs duty relief was deleted with effect from 1 July 2026 (Council Regulation (EU) 2026/382, Art. 1). From 1 July 2026 until 1 July 2028 a duty of EUR 3 per item applies instead, to goods imported under IOSS and to goods in a postal consignment (Council Regulation (EU) 2026/382, Art. 2). “Postal consignment” is a defined term, not a parcel sent by post: “goods in a consignment of an intrinsic value not exceeding EUR 150, sold in distance sales of imported goods”, excluding goods imported under IOSS and “goods which benefit from preferential measures” (Delegated Reg. Art. 1(24)Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446, supplementing the Union Customs CodeArticle 1, paragraph 24Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). So the EUR 3 reaches every parcel up to EUR 150 that you sell to an EU consumer, with or without IOSS, whatever the carrier, unless it goes without IOSS and its goods benefit from preferential measures. The ordinary customs duty for the goods applies only to a consignment of EUR 150 or less that is not a distance sale, such as a sale to a VAT-registered business, and to goods under preferential measures that are not imported under IOSS. An item is not a piece: it is “one or more goods in a consignment sharing the same tariff classification, description and, if provided […], origin” (Delegated Reg. Art. 1(61)Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446, supplementing the Union Customs CodeArticle 1, paragraph 61Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

From 1 November 2026, a declaration for goods sold at a distance to an EU customer carries, for each item, the merchant product identifier and the manufacturer’s product identifier, plus the standardised one where the item has it. Operators may give them voluntarily from 1 July 2026 (Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/1022, Art. 2(3)). The merchant product identifier is the one assigned by you, your marketplace or your platform (Delegated Reg. Art. 1(58)Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446, supplementing the Union Customs CodeArticle 1, paragraph 58Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.), so whoever declares the parcel needs it from you.

The reduced “H7” declaration for these consignments is in Delegated Reg. Art. 143aDelegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446, supplementing the Union Customs CodeArticle 143aClick opens the article on EUR-Lex.: goods in a consignment of an intrinsic value not exceeding EUR 150, sold in distance sales of imported goods, may be declared on that dataset if they are not subject to prohibitions or restrictions. The article sits inside “Articles 135 to 144”, so lodging an H7 declaration does not by itself oblige a business outside the EU to register (Delegated Reg. Art. 5(1)Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446, supplementing the Union Customs CodeArticle 5, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., point (a)(i)). The H7 declarant field still asks for an EORI number (Annex B, data element 13 05 017 000).

What you can skip

What the law leaves open

• Whether an EU business whose only customs contact is postal or express parcels must register. UCC Art. 9(1)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 9, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex. makes every economic operator established in the EU register, with no value floor. Delegated Reg. Art. 141(4)Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446, supplementing the Union Customs CodeArticle 141, paragraph 4Click opens the article on EUR-Lex. and Art. 141(4a)Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446, supplementing the Union Customs CodeArticle 141, paragraph 4aClick opens the article on EUR-Lex. make a postal or express parcel up to EUR 1,000 declared for export by leaving, or by presentation at exit, with no declarant field to fill. Neither text says whether such a seller is “involved in activities covered by the customs legislation”. Meanwhile, register: it costs nothing, and the first parcel above EUR 1,000 needs a full export declaration.
• How a seller outside the EU can be the declarant for its own IOSS parcels. The 2026 note in Annex B puts “the person making use of the special scheme” first in the declarant order. UCC Art. 170(2)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 170, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex. still requires a declarant to be established in the EU, and a seller making regular shipments fits none of the exceptions in Art. 170(3)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 170, paragraph 3Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.. The note does not say how the two fit together. Meanwhile, have your courier or intermediary declare as your indirect representative; every one of these texts allows that.