EORI number Italy: what it is, how to get one and how to check it before your first import

THURSDAY, 15 OCTOBER 2026

Who needs one, how it is structured, how to apply free of charge to the Italian Customs Agency and how to check it on the European Commission's website: a guide to the EORI number, with a first-import example.

EORI number Italy: the EORI number is the identifier the European Union's customs authorities use to recognise a business or a person, and it is needed to import, export and lodge any customs declaration. For anyone with an Italian VAT number it is that VAT number preceded by IT: the Italian Customs and Monopolies Agency assigns it free of charge, and it can be checked in a minute on the European Commission's website.

It looks like a trivial formality, and often it is. But a number that is not registered, or that is registered to another company in the group, is enough to stop the first import declaration while the container waits in port. This guide explains who needs one, how to read it, how to apply and how to check it, with a worked example of a first import and the mistakes worth avoiding.

EORI number Italy: what it is and what it is for

EORI stands for Economic Operators Registration and Identification. The system was introduced by Commission Regulation (EC) No 312/2009 and has applied since 1 July 2009; today the legal basis is Article 9 of the Union Customs Code, Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, together with Articles 3 to 7 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446 and Articles 6 and 7 of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2447.

The principle is a single one: one operator, one number, valid across the whole Union. Each person can hold only one active EORI number at a time, and must use it in all communications with any European customs authority that asks for an identifier. The same number appears in the import declaration, in entry and exit summary declarations, in the AEO application and in the systems customs authorities use to exchange information.

Who needs an EORI number and who does not

Every economic operator established in the customs territory of the Union that carries out activities covered by customs legislation must be registered, and must be registered in the Member State where it is established. The Commission's guidance gives the example of a Swedish company clearing goods in Hungary: its number is still assigned by Swedish customs. The same applies to an Italian company importing through Rotterdam or Koper: the number remains the Italian one.

It is not needed, on the other hand, by a business buying goods already in free circulation from a European supplier, nor by a haulier that only moves goods in free circulation within the Union. In multinational groups each company with its own legal personality that carries out customs activities has its own EORI number, while a branch that is not a separate legal person cannot have one.

Operators established outside the Union register only if they themselves lodge a customs declaration, a summary or temporary storage declaration, or if they act as sea or air carriers. The guidance says so explicitly: a Chinese exporter shipping to a consignee established in the Union is not required to apply for an EORI number. In an ordinary import, the number that counts is the Italian importer's.

The format of an Italian EORI number

The number follows a structure common to the whole Union, and the Italian version builds it from existing tax numbers:

• First part: the ISO code of the issuing country, two letters, IT for Italy.
• Second part: an identifier unique within the Member State, up to 15 alphanumeric characters.
• Businesses and professionals with a VAT number: IT followed by the 11 digits of the VAT number, 13 characters in total.
• Private individuals without a VAT number: IT followed by the codice fiscale, the Italian tax code.

A hypothetical VAT number 01234567890 therefore becomes the EORI number IT01234567890. Precisely because the form is predictable, many businesses assume they have one: but the number exists only if it is registered in the EORI database, and the VAT number alone does not prove it.

EORI number in Italy: how to get one from the Customs Agency

When the system started in 2009, the Agency automatically registered Italian parties that had carried out customs operations in the previous two years and announced automatic registration for those doing so for the first time as well. That is why many companies have an EORI number without ever having applied for one. Anyone who is not registered has to submit an application.

The application goes to the customs office with territorial competence, using the form «Richiesta di attribuzione del codice EORI» published in the EOS section of the Agency's website. The form asks for the VAT number and tax code, any VAT numbers assigned in other EU countries, the nature of the applicant (natural person, legal person or association), the NACE code of the economic activity, a contact and the details of an identity document or of the company register entry.

Assignment is free and only the Agency can do it. The Customs Directorate said so in a notice dated 23 July 2025, after several reports of websites offering EORI registration for a fee: no private site can issue it. As for timing, the European guidance warns that registration may take several days and asks operators to start it before their first operation, because an application filed at the last minute does not show up in customs systems straight away.

EORI number check on the European Commission's website

The European Commission provides a public validation service: you enter the number and the system replies whether it is valid. The check works for numbers from every Member State, and it is worth running on your own number before the first order and on that of the freight forwarder or customs representative who will lodge the declaration on your behalf.

The service shows the holder's name and address only if the holder has consented to publication. Consent is given in the application form and is optional: the Agency's form states that refusing has no effect on the registration or on customs operations. A valid number with no name is therefore normal and does not signal a problem.

Where the EORI number is used: from declarations to Brexit

Once assigned, the number must be stated in every customs operation that requires an identifier, in any EU country. Anyone who holds or applies for authorised economic operator status enters it in the AEO application and in declarations, because without the number the facilitations do not apply.

Brexit showed how necessary the number has become. Since January 2021 importing from or exporting to the United Kingdom has required an EORI number, and many businesses that until then had traded only within the Union suddenly had to apply: the Milano 1 customs office alone issued more than 3,000 numbers in the first five months of 2021. Anyone opening a purchasing channel outside the Union now, whether China, Vietnam or Switzerland, is in the same position.

Validity, cessation and changes of address

An EORI number does not expire. Customs invalidate it at the holder's request or when they learn that the activity requiring registration has ceased, for example after a bankruptcy, and notify the invalidation date. The data are kept for 10 years after expiry, so that declarations lodged before the closure can still be corrected.

If a business resumes an activity it had stopped, it must register again and can get its old number back. A natural person who moves to another Member State, by contrast, does not need a new EORI number: they only update their address in the database.

Worked example: a small company's first import

Take a hypothetical limited company selling home accessories that has always bought from Italian wholesalers. In September it decides to order its first container directly from a Chinese factory, on FOB Ningbo terms with customs clearance in Genoa. Dates and figures are chosen for the example:

• Day 1, order signed: the owner checks IT followed by the VAT number on the Commission's service, and the number comes back as not valid.
• Day 2: the application is sent to the customs office competent for the registered office, with the company register extract and the legal representative's ID.
• Over the following days the number is assigned, and a new check on the Commission's service confirms it as valid.
• Day 10: the EORI number is sent to the customs broker together with the power of representation, almost a month before the ship's expected arrival.

Had the same check been made when the goods arrived, the import declaration could not have been lodged until registration was complete, with the container held at the terminal and storage charges running. The day 1 check takes a minute.

EORI number: the typical mistakes on a first import

• Assuming the VAT number is also an active EORI number, without checking it on the Commission's service.
• Applying for the number when the goods are already at sea, instead of when the order is signed.
• Paying a private website for a registration the Agency carries out free of charge, and that only the Agency can carry out.
• Using the number of the parent company or of another group company, instead of that of the company actually importing.
• Applying for an EORI number in the EU country where the goods arrive, rather than in Italy where the business is established.

With La Merce, the EORI number is checked when the order is signed, not when the ship arrives: if it is missing, the application to the customs office goes out straight away, so the first container from China is not held in port for want of a thirteen-character number.

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