Importer of record in the EU: who it is, what it owes, and who can be yours

The request comes from whoever handles your goods at the border or in the EU. A courier or broker needs someone to lodge the import declaration; a marketplace or fulfilment service needs someone who answers for the product in the EU.

What the EU calls the importer of record

The term “importer of record” appears nowhere in the Union Customs Code, its Delegated Regulation, the General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR) or the market surveillance Regulation. EU law splits the job between two roles, each in its own law.

The Commission’s own guidance on customs declarations says who usually lodges one: the owner of the goods, or a person or company acting on their behalf, a representative. It can also be whoever has “control over the goods”. “As a rule all these parties should be established (have a registered office) in the EU” (European Commission, Customs declaration).

Which role falls to whom, by how you sell

For parcels sent straight to consumers, the Commission says that where the manufacturer has not appointed an authorised representative, “the product may not be offered for sale to EU end-users” (Guidelines on Article 4 of Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Box 1, step 6). The GPSR applies the same list of EU operators to consumer products (GPSR Art. 16(1)Regulation (EU) 2023/988, General Product Safety RegulationArticle 16, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The Blue Guide says EU harmonisation legislation “does not create obligations for the end-users of the products in their scope”, even when no responsible economic operator is present in the EU (Blue Guide 2022, section 3.8).

Who can be the declarant

Anyone who can give customs all the information the procedure needs, and can present the goods or have them presented (UCC Art. 170(1)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 170, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Where accepting the declaration puts particular obligations on a specific person, that person or its representative lodges it.

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.). A company is established there if it has its registered office, central headquarters or a permanent business establishment in the EU; a person, if they live there habitually (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 staff 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.).

Three kinds of declarant are exempt: those declaring transit or temporary admission; those who lodge a declaration only occasionally, where customs considers that justified; and those established in a country next to the EU who present the goods at the border office facing it, where that country grants EU businesses the same (UCC Art. 170(3)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 170, paragraph 3Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Only the second depends on how often you declare. A business in a country that does not border the EU, releasing goods for free circulation on a regular basis, fits none of them.

That business sells to an EU business that imports in its own name, or imports through a representative. Any person may appoint a customs representative, and the representative acts in one of two ways (UCC Art. 18(1)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 18, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.):

• Direct: in your name and on your behalf. You are the declarant, so you must meet the establishment rule yourself.
• Indirect: in its own name, on your behalf. The representative is the declarant. You are still the importer named on the declaration (Annex B, 13 04 000 000) and a debtor of the duty with it (UCC Art. 77(3)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 77, paragraph 3Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

The representative must itself be established in the EU, unless it acts for someone who need not be (UCC Art. 18(2)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 18, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). It states to customs that it acts for you and whether directly or indirectly. One that does not say so, or has no power to act for you, is treated as acting in its own name and on its own behalf (UCC Art. 19(1)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 19, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

What the declarant owes

• A correct declaration. Lodging it makes the declarant responsible for the accuracy and completeness of its information, for the authenticity of the documents behind it, and for the obligations of the procedure. A representative that lodges it is bound too (UCC Art. 15(2)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 15, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).
• The import duty. The customs debt arises when the declaration is accepted (UCC Art. 77(2)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 77, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The declarant is the debtor. Under indirect representation, the business it acts for is a debtor too, and so is anyone who supplied information they knew, or ought reasonably to have known, was false (UCC Art. 77(3)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 77, paragraph 3Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Several debtors are jointly and severally liable: customs can collect the whole amount from any of them (UCC Art. 84Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 84Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).
• Everything else release brings. Release for free circulation means paying the import duty and other charges, and meeting commercial policy measures, prohibitions and restrictions (UCC Art. 201(2)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 201, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).
• Import VAT, where the EU country says so. Import VAT is payable by the person the EU country of import designates or recognises as liable (VAT Directive Art. 201Directive 2006/112/EC, the VAT Directive (consolidated text of 14 April 2025)Article 201Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Each country sets how it is paid, and may let a business enter it in its VAT return instead of paying it at the border (VAT Directive Art. 211Directive 2006/112/EC, the VAT Directive (consolidated text of 14 April 2025)Article 211Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). VAT on sales is on EU VAT for online sellers. A sale on delivered duty paid terms moves who pays the duty and import VAT, not who is the importer; the terms are on DDP shipping to Europe.
• Papers, for at least three years. The documents and information behind the declaration go to customs on request (UCC Art. 15(1)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 15, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.) and are kept for at least three years from the end of the year the declaration was accepted (UCC Art. 51(1)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 51, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Where a customs control corrects the duty and you are told so, three years more (UCC Art. 51(2)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 51, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

Who the importer is under product law

The importerArt. 3(10)any natural or legal person established within the Union who places a product from a third country on the Union marketClick the term for the full definition is “any natural or legal person established within the Union who places a product from a third country on the Union market” (GPSR Art. 3(10)Regulation (EU) 2023/988, General Product Safety RegulationArticle 3, point 10Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., MSR Art. 3(9)Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Market Surveillance RegulationArticle 3, point 9Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Placing on the market is the first supply of a product in the EU in the course of a commercial activity, paid or free (GPSR Art. 3(6)Regulation (EU) 2023/988, General Product Safety RegulationArticle 3, point 6Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 3(7)Regulation (EU) 2023/988, General Product Safety RegulationArticle 3, point 7Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). So the importer is the EU business that first sells or supplies the goods here.

The Commission’s guidance on the EU operator gives the online example: for products of a manufacturer outside the EU sold online, “there may also be an importer, e.g. offering the product for sale online itself or selling it to a distributor who does so” (Guidelines on Article 4, Box 1, step 4). The Blue Guide adds that “the importer is not a simple re-seller of products”, and that it needs “neither a mandate from the manufacturer, nor a preferential relationship with the manufacturer like the authorised representative” (Blue Guide 2022, section 3.3).

When the manufacturer is outside the EU, an EU importer is one of the operators that satisfies the rule that every product needs an economic operator established in the EU (MSR Art. 4(2)Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Market Surveillance RegulationArticle 4, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., point (b); GPSR Art. 16(1)Regulation (EU) 2023/988, General Product Safety RegulationArticle 16, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Where several importers bring in the same product, each is that operator for the units it placed on the market, and each unit should bear the name of its own importer (Guidelines on Article 4, section 4.2).

What the product importer must do

Under the GPSR, before and after it sells a consumer product (GPSR Art. 11Regulation (EU) 2023/988, General Product Safety RegulationArticle 11Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.):

1. Make sure the product meets the general safety requirement, and that the manufacturer drew up the technical documentation, marked a type, batch or serial number, and put its name and address on it (Art. 11(1)Regulation (EU) 2023/988, General Product Safety RegulationArticle 11, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). How the file is built is on GPSR technical documentation.
2. Hold back a product it has reason to think does not conform, until it does. If the product is dangerous, tell the manufacturer and make sure the authorities are told through the Safety Business Gateway (Art. 11(2)Regulation (EU) 2023/988, General Product Safety RegulationArticle 11, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).
3. Put its own name, registered trade name or trade mark, postal and electronic address on the product, or where that is not possible on the packaging or an accompanying document, without covering the manufacturer’s label (Art. 11(3)Regulation (EU) 2023/988, General Product Safety RegulationArticle 11, paragraph 3Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).
4. Make sure the product comes with clear instructions and safety information in a language consumers in the EU country of sale easily understand (Art. 11(4)Regulation (EU) 2023/988, General Product Safety RegulationArticle 11, paragraph 4Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).
5. Store and transport it so its safety is not put at risk (Art. 11(5)Regulation (EU) 2023/988, General Product Safety RegulationArticle 11, paragraph 5Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).
6. Keep a copy of the technical documentation for 10 years after placing the product on the market (Art. 11(6)Regulation (EU) 2023/988, General Product Safety RegulationArticle 11, paragraph 6Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).
7. Cooperate with the authorities and the manufacturer to keep the product safe (Art. 11(7)Regulation (EU) 2023/988, General Product Safety RegulationArticle 11, paragraph 7Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).
8. When it has reason to think a product it placed on the market is dangerous, act at once: tell the manufacturer, make sure corrective action is taken, including withdrawal or recall, and take it itself if nobody has; make sure consumers are told; and inform the authorities of each EU country where the product was sold, through the Safety Business Gateway (Art. 11(8)Regulation (EU) 2023/988, General Product Safety RegulationArticle 11, paragraph 8Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).
9. Check that the manufacturer’s public channels for complaints and accident reports exist. If they do not, provide them itself (Art. 11(9)Regulation (EU) 2023/988, General Product Safety RegulationArticle 11, paragraph 9Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).
10. Investigate complaints about dangerous products and keep them, with recalls and corrective measures, in a register (Art. 11(10)Regulation (EU) 2023/988, General Product Safety RegulationArticle 11, paragraph 10Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

Products under other EU product laws carry importer duties of their own in those laws (Guidelines on Article 4, section 4.2). A mixture classified as hazardous for its health or physical effects is one example: its importer submits information on it to the poison centres of the EU countries where it is placed on the market (Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008, Art. 45Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008, CLP (classification, labelling and packaging), consolidated text of 1 January 2027Article 45Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Annex VIII), as set out on poison centre notification. Where the name goes is on GPSR labelling requirements.

How the importer differs from the consignee and the buyer

An EU import declaration names several parties, and each has its own data element in Annex B to Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446.

The consignee is whoever receives the goods. The importer is whoever the declaration is made by or for. They are often the same business, and need not be.

Your buyer is the importer in a full import declaration only when the declaration is made by it or on its behalf. On the reduced declarations for postal parcels and for consignments up to EUR 150, the importer field names the party the goods are consigned to, which for a parcel you send a consumer is that consumer. Under product law a consumer is never the importer, because placing on the market is a commercial act (GPSR Art. 3(6)Regulation (EU) 2023/988, General Product Safety RegulationArticle 3, point 6Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

How to get the number customs asks for

There is no separate importer-of-record number in the EU. The importer field takes the EORI number of the person concerned. Where that person has none, because it is not an economic operator or not established in the EU, the field takes “the number required by the legislation of the Member State concerned” (Annex B, 13 04 017 000). The declarant field takes an EORI number too.

A business established in the EU gets its EORI number from the customs of its own country (UCC Art. 9(1)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 9, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). A business outside the EU registers, in the cases the law lists, where it first lodges a declaration or applies for a decision (UCC Art. 9(2)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 9, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The steps and what to give your courier are on EORI number; how to apply from outside the EU is on apply for an EORI number. A UK seller’s export and import sides are on export from UK to EU.

Who can take the roles for you

The customs role. A customs representative established in the EU, declaring in its own name on your behalf (UCC Art. 18(1)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 18, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., 18(2)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 18, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Each EU country may set conditions for representatives working there. A representative that meets the criteria in points (a) to (d) of Article 39Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 39Click opens the article on EUR-Lex. of the UCC is entitled to work in other EU countries as well (UCC Art. 18(3)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 18, paragraph 3Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Customs may require proof that it is empowered to act for you (UCC Art. 19(2)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 19, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.), so keep the proof of the appointment ready.

The product role. An EU business that buys your goods and places them on the market is the importer. A business that should only carry out tasks, without selling, needs a written mandate from the manufacturer as authorised representative (GPSR Art. 3(9)Regulation (EU) 2023/988, General Product Safety RegulationArticle 3, point 9Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., MSR Art. 4(2)Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Market Surveillance RegulationArticle 4, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., point (c)). If you make the product, or sell it under your own name or trade mark, you are the manufacturer and you give the mandate (GPSR Art. 3(8)Regulation (EU) 2023/988, General Product Safety RegulationArticle 3, point 8Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 13(1)Regulation (EU) 2023/988, General Product Safety RegulationArticle 13, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). If you resell another maker’s product, that manufacturer must appoint it; the Commission says the seller “will need to ensure that the manufacturer appoints an authorised representative” (Guidelines on Article 4, Box 1, step 6). The Blue Guide says an importer that wants to take administrative tasks for the manufacturer “has to be explicitly designated by the manufacturer in order to become an authorised representative” (section 3.3). Only where there is no EU manufacturer, importer or authorised representative is a fulfilment service providerArt. 3(12)any natural or legal person offering, in the course of commercial activity, at least two of the following services: warehousing, packaging, addressing and dispatching, without having ownership of the products involved ...Click the term for the full definition established in the EU the operator for the products it handles (MSR Art. 4(2)Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Market Surveillance RegulationArticle 4, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., point (d)). The three roles are set side by side on EU authorised representative.

What happens if nobody takes the role

No declarant. Goods presented to customs wait in temporary storage, and within 90 days they are 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.). Past that limit, the Commission says, customs “will take measures to dispose of the goods by selling or destroying them, at the expense of the party who made the initial customs declaration” (European Commission, Importation).

No EU operator for the product. Customs suspends the release when there is cause to believe the product breaks the EU law that applies to it, such as the GPSR rule that the EU operator’s name and contact details are on it (MSR Art. 26(1)Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Market Surveillance RegulationArticle 26, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., point (e); GPSR Art. 16(3)Regulation (EU) 2023/988, General Product Safety RegulationArticle 16, paragraph 3Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). For products under the EU laws listed in MSR Art. 4(5)Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Market Surveillance RegulationArticle 4, paragraph 5Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., missing operator details are a ground of their own (MSR Art. 26(1)Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Market Surveillance RegulationArticle 26, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., point (d)). If the market surveillance authority does not ask to keep the suspension within four working days, the goods are released (MSR Art. 27Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Market Surveillance RegulationArticle 27Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). If it finds the product non-compliant, it bans it from the market and customs refuses release (MSR Art. 28(2)Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Market Surveillance RegulationArticle 28, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). A product that is a risk to health and safety may be destroyed, at the cost of the person declaring it (MSR Art. 28(4)Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Market Surveillance RegulationArticle 28, paragraph 4Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

Fines. Each EU country sets the penalties for breaking customs law and for breaking the GPSR, and both regulations require them to 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., GPSR Art. 44(1)Regulation (EU) 2023/988, General Product Safety RegulationArticle 44, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., 44(2)Regulation (EU) 2023/988, General Product Safety RegulationArticle 44, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

What you can skip

What the law leaves open

• Whether a customs representative that declares in its own name is also the importer under product law. The UCC ties the declarant to lodging the declaration (UCC Art. 5(15)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 5, paragraph 15Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.); the GPSR ties the importer to placing the product on the market (GPSR Art. 3(10)Regulation (EU) 2023/988, General Product Safety RegulationArticle 3, point 10Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Neither regulation joins the two roles, and the Commission’s example of an importer is a business that sells the goods. Being the importer follows from placing the product on the market, not from a contract. The operator the law names without that question is an authorised representative with the manufacturer’s written mandate (GPSR Art. 3(9)Regulation (EU) 2023/988, General Product Safety RegulationArticle 3, point 9Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., MSR Art. 4(2)Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Market Surveillance RegulationArticle 4, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., point (c)).
• Whether an EU business that imports goods for its own use is the importer. The GPSR’s importer places the product on the market (GPSR Art. 3(10)Regulation (EU) 2023/988, General Product Safety RegulationArticle 3, point 10Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The Blue Guide calls a business that uses a product in its work an end user, and says EU product law “does not create obligations for the end-users of the products in their scope” (Blue Guide 2022, section 3.8). Neither text says which of the two a business buying for its own use is.