Come calcolare i dazi doganali dalla Cina: formula, antidumping ed esempio

Import duty from China to EU: how to calculate it, with a worked example

WEDNESDAY, 14 OCTOBER 2026

Customs value up to the EU border, the official exchange rate, the TARIC rate and anti-dumping duties: the calculation step by step, from the FOB price to the amount payable.

Import duty from China to EU is calculated by applying the rate for the product's customs code to the customs value, that is the price paid to the supplier plus transport and insurance up to the border of the European Union. If the product is subject to an anti-dumping measure, that duty is added to the first one, calculated on the same basis.

The formula is simple, but each of its elements hides a trap: the taxable base changes with the Incoterm, a dollar invoice must be converted at the right rate, and the rate depends on a classification that is the importer's responsibility. This guide sets out the steps in order and applies them to a worked example with figures.

Import duty from China to EU: the formula in three steps

The calculation always follows the same order. First, the customs value is determined, in euros. Then the duty rate is found in the Union's customs tariff, starting from the product code. Finally, you check whether additional duties, such as anti-dumping duties, apply to that code and to Chinese origin.

Most EU duties are ad valorem, meaning a percentage of the value. Some headings instead carry a specific duty, linked to quantity or weight, or a combination of the two: in that case the percentage alone is not enough and you need the physical data of the shipment, such as kilograms or pieces.

The customs value: price, transport and insurance up to the EU border

The European Union calculates duty on a CIF-type basis. Article 71(1)(e) of the Union Customs Code adds to the price paid or payable the costs of transport, loading and handling and the insurance up to the place where the goods enter the customs territory of the Union. For sea freight this is normally the first European port of arrival; for air freight, flat-rate percentages of the total freight apply, set out in an annex to Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446.

What happens after the border is left out. Transport from the port of Genoa to your warehouse, if invoiced separately and identifiable, does not enter the value on which duty is calculated. Insurance only counts if it exists: if the goods are not insured nothing is added, while a policy covering the whole journey must be split between the leg up to the border and the one after it.

Incoterms and the invoice: what to add when buying FOB or EXW

The Incoterm decides which items are missing from the supplier's invoice. With a CIF or CFR price to a European port, freight is already included in the price; with FOB Shanghai or Ningbo the supplier delivers the goods on board and freight and insurance must be added separately, taken from the forwarder's invoice; with EXW you also add inland transport in China and loading operations.

This is where most mistakes are made, in both directions. Declaring only the FOB price means paying less duty than is due, and customs can recover the difference after clearance, with interest and penalties. Adding transport from the port to the warehouse to the value means paying duty on a cost that does not attract it.

Invoices in dollars or yuan: the customs exchange rate

The customs value must be expressed in euros, and the conversion is not made at the rate on the day of the bank transfer. The official monthly rate published by the European Central Bank is used, loaded by the Italian Customs and Monopolies Agency into its AIDA system and valid on the date the declaration is accepted. The legal reference is Article 53 of the Union Customs Code, with Article 146 of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2447.

Since 4 August 2026, following the Agency's notice of 29 July, the Italian import declaration has a dedicated exchange rate field. If it is left blank, the system automatically applies the official monthly rate. If a different contractual rate is declared, document code 26AO must be entered in the declaration header and proof of the agreement with the supplier kept in the electronic file: without the code the declaration is rejected.

The duty rate: why the full tariff applies to China

The rate is found in the European Commission's TARIC database by entering the product code and the country of origin. Chinese goods pay the ordinary third-country duty: the Union has no free trade agreement with China and since 1 January 2015 no longer grants it the preferences of the Generalised Scheme of Preferences, after the World Bank classified it as an upper-middle-income country.

The customs code is chosen by the importer, not by the supplier or even by the forwarder, although the forwarder usually fills in the declaration. How to find the right heading among the thousands in the tariff is the subject of a separate guide; here it is enough to remember that a wrong code carries a wrong rate, and that the error often surfaces months later, during a post-clearance review.

Anti-dumping duties: the case of bicycles at 48.5%

When the European Commission finds that a Chinese product is sold in the Union below its normal value, it imposes an anti-dumping duty that is added to the ordinary one. In TARIC it appears as a separate measure, linked to a four-character additional code identifying the producer: the importer must enter it in the declaration, otherwise the residual rate, the highest one, applies.

Non-motorised bicycles are the best-known and longest-running example: the first measure dates back to 1993. With Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2146 of 22 October 2025, at the end of an expiry review, the Commission confirmed the duty on bicycles originating in China, calculated on the net, free-at-Union-frontier price, before duty, that is on the same basis as the customs value:

All other Chinese producers, additional code B999: 48.5%.
Zhejiang Baoguilai Vehicle, code B772: 19.2%.
Oyama Technology (Nantong) and Ideal (Dongguan) Bike, codes B773 and B774: 0%.
Extension of the duty to bicycles consigned from Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Tunisia, Cambodia, Pakistan and the Philippines, except for exempted producers.

On a batch of bicycles with a customs value of 15,000 euros, the anti-dumping duty is 7,275 euros at the residual rate and 2,880 euros if the producer is the one at 19.2%, always on top of the ordinary duty. The extension to transit countries is meant to stop the same goods escaping the duty by passing through another country: a declared origin other than China has to be proven.

Worked example: from the FOB price to the duty payable

Take a hypothetical import of household items bought FOB Shanghai and shipped by sea to Genoa. The 6.5% rate and the exchange rate of 1.10 dollars per euro are values chosen for the example, not those of a real product or month:

FOB Shanghai invoice: 22,000 dollars, equal to 20,000 euros at the hypothetical rate of 1.10.
Sea freight to Genoa: 2,400 euros, plus 60 euros of insurance, for a customs value of 22,460 euros.
Ordinary duty at 6.5% of the customs value: 1,459.90 euros.
Transport from Genoa to the warehouse: 350 euros, outside the duty base.
Italian import VAT base: 22,460 plus 1,459.90 plus 350, that is 24,269.90 euros; VAT at 22% paid at customs: 5,339.38 euros.

The comparison with the supplier's price says a lot. Calculated on the 20,000 euros of the FOB invoice alone, the duty would have been 1,300 euros: the 159.90 euros of difference are what a wrong declaration would leave unpaid, plus interest and penalties, at the first check.

After the duty: import VAT and small consignments

VAT is not a duty but it is paid at the same time and has a wider base: under Article 69 of Italian Presidential Decree 633/1972 it includes the customs value, customs duties and forwarding costs up to the place of destination in the Union shown in the transport document. For VAT-registered businesses it is deductible, and how it works deserves a guide of its own.

For small consignments a lot has changed. Since 1 July 2026 Regulation (EU) 2026/382 has abolished the duty exemption for consignments with an intrinsic value of up to 150 euros and introduced a flat duty of 3 euros per item on online sales shipped from third countries to consumers. It is a transitional regime, planned until 1 July 2028, when ordinary rates are due to apply. For a business importing by container the calculation does not change, but a sample or spare part sent by courier no longer travels duty-free.

Calculating duty from China: the mistakes to avoid

Declaring the FOB price without adding freight and insurance up to the European port.
Putting transport from the port to the warehouse into the customs value, when it belongs only in the VAT base.
Converting a foreign-currency invoice at a rate other than the official one without code 26AO and proof of the agreement.
Accepting the customs code proposed by the supplier without checking it in TARIC, together with any anti-dumping measures.
Forgetting the producer's additional code, and so paying the highest anti-dumping rate.

With La Merce, import duty from China to the EU is calculated before the order: customs value rebuilt from the Incoterm, rate and anti-dumping measures checked in TARIC and the producer's additional code requested from the factory, so that the 48.5% on bicycles or any other duty does not arrive as a surprise at customs clearance.