Duty Suspensions and Tariff Quotas
The European Union (EU) Temporary Duty Suspensions and Tariff Quotas regime allows the duty free importation into the EU of raw materials, components and semi-finished products which cannot be supplied (or supplied in sufficient quantities) from EU or Turkish manufacturers and are used in a process to make another product.
This regime cannot be used simply to import for resale. Suspensions allow unlimited quantities to be imported into the EU whereas quotas allow limited quantities to be imported.
Once granted, a suspension or quota can be used by any business in the EU - it is not specific to the company which applied. If your product is covered by an existing suspension or quota, you do not need to make a new request.
The European Commission Communication detailing the rules for this regime, and the EU regulations containing the current duty suspensions and tariff quotas in force can be found on the European Commission website
Guidance, timelines and forms
Please click on the headings below for further information:-
What are the application criteria?
You can apply for a duty suspension or tariff quota if the component you are importing:
- cannot be sourced - or supplied in sufficient quantity - from within the EU or Turkey, and
- is to be further processed in an EU factory, and
- the level of import duty is saving at least € 15,000 per year
Who can make an application?
You can make an application if you are:-
- a business established in the EU;
- an EU manufacturing user of the component in question;
- a distributor applying on behalf of EU manufacturing customers;
- EU company subsidiaries outside of the EU or Turkey;
- Agents (lawyers, accountants or consultants) representing one of the above
Note:applications from agents must also include the name of the EU user to be considered.
When can I apply?
There are two application periods per year for this regime. The annual deadlines are:-
|
New/ammendment requests |
Prolongation requests |
| 1st application period |
2nd application period |
application period |
| Requests deadline |
15 March |
15 September |
15 April |
| 1st EU meeting to discuss requests |
April/May |
October/November |
April/May |
| 2nd EU meeting to discuss requests |
June |
December |
June |
| 3rd EU meeting to discuss requests |
July |
January |
July |
| Optional additional meeting to discuss requests |
September |
February |
|
| Entry into force of requested tariff suspensions or quotas |
1 January |
1 July |
1 January |
Requests to increase the volume of an existing tariff quota can be submitted ay any time.
How do I apply?
Please complete the application form (DOC, 125 Kb) and email it to dutysuspensionsandquotas@bis.gsi.gov.uk
Please use the Guidance notes (DOC, 119 Kb) to help you complete the form, applications that do not contain all the necessary information may not be considered.
How does this regime work?
Your application will be submitted to the European Commission. A list of all the requests for each round (tariff codes and description only) is posted on the European Commission website and on this website. The UK also sends this list to Trade Associations. This is to enable us to check if there is any EU manufacturing of the components for which a duty suspension has been requested. The name of the applicant is not made public nor is any of the information on an application other than the tariff code and description requested.
Requests are discussed at three working group meetings in Brussels (Economic Tariff Questions Group – ETQG). The results of each meeting are published on this website. We will contact you if we require further information about your request, or to advise you on the receipt of an objection to your application.
Successful duty suspensions requests are valid for five years. After five years they are reviewed under the “prolongation” scheme where they can be renewed for a further five years. Tariff quotas are valid for twelve months and automatically renewed for the same quantity each year. Objections to tariff suspensions or quotas can be made at anytime during the validity period.
But I make these components already....
If you manufacture goods in the EU for which a duty suspension or quota is being requested or is currently in force, you can have it stopped by submitting a suspension objection form (DOC, 48 Kb) . You will have to prove that you currently make the required goods in the EU (for example by making a sales offer to the applicant company). Price is NOT a consideration when oppositions are considered. Discussions between you and the applicant company should also take place to see if any compromise is possible.
If you receive an objection from another member state company to your request, you must contact the objecting company to discuss a compromise solution, as unless their objection is withdrawn your request will not be granted.
The deadlines for objections to new requests or current measures are:-
| |
New requests |
Current measures |
| Objection deadline |
2nd EU meeting |
1st EU meeting |
Renewal of existing suspensions (prolongation)
If you are using a duty suspension that is reaching the end of its five year validity, you will need to request its renewal if you wish to continue to use it. The EU duty suspension regulation (PDF, 907 Kb) contains the renewal dates of all duty suspensions.
The annual list of current duty suspensions subject to review can be viewed using the related link to the right of this page. Any duty suspension that has duty savings of more than €750,000 Euros is automatically renewed by the European Commission and no renewal request needs to be made. A list of prolongation suspensions (PDF, 134 Kb) is published annually on this site.
To request the renewal of a duty suspension for a further five years, please complete the request for the prolongation of a tariff suspension (DOC, 70 Kb) form.
