Anti-dumping duty: what it is and who pays

Anti-dumping duty is an extra import duty the EU charges on a product from a named country when its export price to the EU is below the comparable price in the exporting country and the imports harm EU producers [1]. It is set by regulation for specific goods and origins, comes on top of the normal customs duty [1] [2], and is owed like any import duty: by the declarant and, when your broker declares in its own name on your behalf, by you as well [3].

How an anti-dumping measure works

Each measure is a Commission Implementing Regulation. It names the goods, their CN and TARIC codes, the country of origin and the rates, and customs collect the duty in the form and at the rate it sets, independently of the customs duties, taxes and other charges normally due on import [1]. The rate is usually a percentage of the net, free-at-Union-frontier price, before duty [5] [8]. German customs adds that the duty applies on top of the third-country duty even where a preference lowers that duty or removes it [2]. As a duty due by reason of importation, it is also part of the base for import VAT [4]; see import VAT.

Anti-dumping duty and countervailing duty against subsidies are separate instruments, and a product cannot be charged both to deal with the same situation [1]. Electric bicycles from China carry both, under two regulations [5] [11].

Who pays anti-dumping duty?

Anti-dumping duty is part of the customs debt. The declarant is the debtor; with indirect representation, where the broker declares in its own name on your behalf, you are a debtor too [3]. A person who supplied information for the declaration and knew, or ought reasonably to have known, that it was false is also a debtor [3]. Customs can notify a customs debt up to three years after it was incurred [3], so an anti-dumping duty missed at import can still be collected after an audit; see preparing for a customs audit.

Producer rates and the invoice declaration

A measure often lists exporting producers with their own rate and TARIC additional code, and sets one rate for all other companies. For electric bicycles from China the rates in the regulation run from 9.9 % to 70.1 %, and all other companies pay 62.1 % [5].

A producer's own rate applies only when customs receive a valid commercial invoice carrying a declaration, dated and signed by an official of the company that issued the invoice, in the wording the regulation prescribes, naming the producer and its TARIC additional code. Until that invoice is presented, the rate for all other companies applies [5]. So ask your supplier before shipping who made the goods, whether that producer is listed, and whether the invoice will carry the declaration.

How to check a code for a measure

The Commission's TARIC consultation shows the measures for a ten digit code, a country of origin and a date [6]. Anti-dumping and countervailing duties appear under the origin country, with the regulation and any additional codes [6]. Three checks:

• The date of the declaration. Measures start, change and end. The definitive duty on candles from China applies since 27 January 2026, and the raised rate on ceramic tableware since 7 February 2026 [6] [9] [13].
• All ten digits. A measure may cover only part of a CN subheading. For electric bicycles it covers CN 8711 60 10 and, within 8711 60 90, only TARIC code 8711 60 90 10 [5].
• Where the goods are consigned from. The bicycle duty is extended to bicycles consigned from Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Tunisia, Cambodia, Pakistan and the Philippines, whether declared as originating there or not, apart from listed producers. Its extension to certain bicycle parts from China is maintained [7].

Find the code first with the HS code finder; how a commodity code is built explains the ten digits.

Measures on goods small importers often buy

Origin China, read in TARIC and in each regulation on 24 October 2026 [6]. The anti-dumping column shows the rate for all other companies, that is, without a listed producer's invoice declaration. The customs duty is the conventional rate of the Combined Nomenclature 2026 [15].

Exclusions and end dates

The ceramic tableware measure has a single rate for all of China [9]. TARIC lists the fastener measure until 18 February 2027 [6]. Each regulation has exclusions: the ceramic one, for example, leaves out spice mills, knife sharpeners and cordierite pizza stones [9].

Before you order

1. Classify the goods to ten digits and check TARIC for the origin and the expected date of import.
2. Ask the supplier who produced the goods, and for the invoice declaration if that producer has its own rate.
3. Put the duty into the landed cost: on a frontier price of EUR 1,000, a rate of 48.5 % adds EUR 485 before import VAT is worked out. The import duty calculator gives the customs duty and import VAT around it.

Athren works next to the broker or customs team you already have. From the supplier's invoice, the packing list and the transport document you already send them, it proposes the tariff code, checks customs value and origin, and asks the supplier what is missing before the goods arrive.