How to check import duties and trade restrictions

To check what your product will face in a foreign market, look up five things for its national product code: the standard import duty, any lower rate your country of origin is entitled to, extra protective duties such as anti-dumping duties on goods from your country, bans, quotas and licences, and sanctions. Free sources cover most of it: WTO Tariff & Trade Data and ITC Market Access Map for duties worldwide, national tariffs such as EU TARIC, the US HTS or the EAEU Common Customs Tariff, trade remedy notices and the main sanctions lists. Confirm the result with a customs broker before the first shipment.

Duties and restrictions decide whether a market is open to you at all and what your price looks like to the buyer. A 10% duty that your competitors do not pay, or an anti-dumping duty on goods from your country, can close a market that looks good on demand and price. Below is what to check, where, and how Find new export markets shows it for your product.

What you pay at the border

• Import duty. Usually a percentage of the value of the goods. Some rates are an amount per kilogram, litre or piece, or a mix of both. Most countries charge duty on the value including freight and insurance to the border (CIF); the United States charges it on a value without international freight and insurance.
• Import VAT or sales tax. Usually charged on the value plus duty. A VAT-registered importer can normally get it back, so it weighs less on the price than duty does, but it ties up the buyer's money.
• Excise. Extra tax on alcohol, tobacco, fuel and some other goods.
• Protective duties. Anti-dumping, countervailing and safeguard duties, added on top of the normal rate (see Step 4).

A few words you will meet in tariff tables. The MFN rate ("most favoured nation") is the standard rate a WTO member applies to goods from other WTO members. A bound rate is the ceiling a country has promised the WTO not to exceed; the rate actually applied is often lower. A preferential rate is a lower rate for goods from countries with a trade agreement or a preference scheme.

Step 1. Get the national code

Duties are set for national codes: 8 digits in the EU and the US, 10 in the EAEU. The first 6 digits are the international HS code and are the same almost everywhere, but the rate often depends on the last digits. How to find your code is covered in How to find the HS code for a product.

Step 2. Look up the standard rate

• WTO Tariff & Trade Data (ttd.wto.org, which replaced the Tariff Download Facility): tariff profiles and WTO members' bound and applied MFN rates; some downloads need a login.
• ITC Market Access Map (macmap.org): applied rates including preferential ones, plus other measures such as trade remedies, free of charge.
• National tariffs, which are the legal source:
  • EU: TARIC, the EU's integrated tariff, which also shows anti-dumping duties and quotas by country; Access2Markets explains EU rules for exporters and importers.
  • United States: the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS). In recent years the US has added extra duties on top of HTS rates for many countries and products, and they change often, so check the current US Customs and Border Protection guidance as well.
  • Eurasian Economic Union: the Common Customs Tariff on the Eurasian Economic Commission website, one for Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan.
  • United Kingdom: the UK Trade Tariff on the government website.

Step 3. Check for a lower rate for your origin

If your country has a free trade agreement with the market, or the market gives preferences to developing countries, the duty may be lower or zero. Two conditions apply:

• Rules of origin. The product must count as made in your country under the agreement's rules, which often require enough local processing. The ITC Rules of Origin Facilitator (findrulesoforigin.org) explains the rules agreement by agreement.
• Proof of origin. Usually a certificate of origin or an origin statement on the invoice. Without it the buyer pays the standard rate.

Check also what your competitors pay. If they come from a country with an agreement, or from the same customs union as the market, they may pay nothing while you pay the full rate.

Step 4. Look for trade remedies

Trade remedies are extra duties that protect a market's own producers:

• Anti-dumping duties on goods sold below their price in the home market, usually against specific countries and sometimes with a separate rate for each exporting company;
• Countervailing duties on goods that received subsidies in the exporting country;
• Safeguard measures against a sudden rise in imports, from all countries.

These duties can be several times higher than the normal rate and can last for years. An investigation is announced months before duties start, so look at investigations too, not only at duties in force. Where to look: the WTO's Integrated Trade Intelligence Portal (I-TIP) and its trade remedies data; TARIC for the EU; the US International Trade Commission and the Department of Commerce; the Eurasian Economic Commission for the EAEU.

Step 5. Check bans, quotas and licences

• Sanitary and plant health bans. Food, animals and plants from a country or region can be banned after an outbreak of disease, or allowed only from approved producers.
• Licences and permits. Alcohol, medicines, chemicals, weapons, some electronics and many other goods need an import licence or registration.
• Quotas. An import quota limits the quantity that may be imported. A tariff-rate quota lets a set quantity in at a low duty; above it, a higher duty applies.
• Your own country's rules. Export duties, export quotas and export bans in your country, and export controls on goods that can also have military use.

Step 6. Check sanctions

Sanctions work at two levels. Lists of companies and people: the US OFAC list, the EU consolidated list of financial sanctions, the UK Sanctions List and the UN Security Council list. And restrictions on goods: bans on supplying certain products to certain countries. Check the rules of your own country, of the market, and of the countries whose banks and currency you use. How to check a specific company is covered in How to check a foreign company before a deal.

Example: what duties do to a price

The numbers here are made up to show the arithmetic. A buyer imports goods worth 10,000 US dollars CIF.

• Standard duty of 10%: 1,000 dollars. Import VAT of 20% on 11,000: 2,200 dollars, which the buyer usually gets back later.
• If an anti-dumping duty of 30% applies to goods from your country, add 3,000 dollars. The buyer now pays 4,000 dollars of duties instead of 1,000, and your price has to be much lower to compete.
• If instead your country has a trade agreement with a zero rate and you supply proof of origin, the duty is zero, and a competitor without an agreement pays 1,000 dollars more on the same goods.

How to build your export price with these costs is covered in How to calculate a competitive export price.

How Find new export markets shows duties and restrictions

Find new export markets ranks markets for your 6-digit HS code and cost per kilogram and checks duties and restrictions for each of them. Restrictions are checked for the pair "your country of origin to this market", so name your country of origin.

• Market access. For each market: the import duty and import VAT in percent, the entry barrier (low, medium or high) and whether requirements apply. These are estimates from public tariff sources; the margin breakdown links to the source. If no rate is found, the section says so. Where the duty is not a percentage, for example per litre, the margin breakdown marks it "not in %", and you need to account for it separately.
• Requirements and documents. Documents for export from your country and import into the market, points to watch, export restrictions and quotas in your country, and the tariff preference for your origin: the standard rate next to the preferential rate, which applies only if the rules of origin are met. This is an indicative checklist, not legal advice.
• Tags that change the score:
  • Trade restricted: a ban or sanctions on supplying this product from your country to this market was found with a cited source; the market gets the verdict Can skip;
  • Possible restrictions: there is an indication of a ban or sanctions, but no confirming source; the market is not rated above Tough market until you check it;
  • Trade remedies: anti-dumping, countervailing or safeguard duties apply to goods from your country, or are being investigated; the market is not rated above Tough market until you check the rate and term.
• Only firm measures count. A measure changes the score only if it clearly applies to your product on this route. Conditional ones, such as rules that depend on the value of the goods or their end use, are shown in the requirements block for information.
• Other tags. High entry barrier (high duties, VAT or licensing requirements) and Duty-free entry (estimated duty close to zero). In the EAEU, the section also accounts for the duty gap between members and non-members; see How to enter the EAEU market.
• Market news. In the full analysis, recent news on the market with sources: trade policy, tariffs, bans and major players.

Duty and VAT rates are shown to everyone. Trade restrictions, trade remedies and the requirements checklist open after you sign in or sign up for free; the full names of the documents open with the full analysis. The section covers only the countries where Orion Markets has foreign trade data; the list is on the data coverage page.

Common mistakes

• Using a 6-digit code for the rate. Two products under one 6-digit code can pay different duties.
• Forgetting proof of origin. A trade agreement gives nothing if the buyer cannot show where the goods come from.
• Checking only duties in force. An open anti-dumping investigation can change your price within months.
• Relying on one source. Databases lag behind changes. Before the first shipment, confirm the rate with the national tariff or a customs broker.
• Ignoring your competitors' rates. What matters to the buyer is your price with duty compared with theirs.

To see duties and restrictions for your product across markets, enter your code, cost and country of origin on Find new export markets. For one market in depth, open Analyze markets by product.