Inward processing in the EU: Does the duty rate always depend on the commodity code for the goods?

Sandra Rinnert
Sandra Rinnert
Head of Customs Law, Hochschule des Bundes für öffentliche Verwaltung, Germany
Enrika Naujokė
Enrika Naujokė
Director, CustomsClear, Lithuania
Michael Lux
Michael Lux
Attorney at Michael Lux BV, former Head of Unit ‘Customs Legislation’ and ‘Customs Procedures’, EU Commission, Belgium
Published 09 Mar 2023
Inward processing in the EU: Does the duty rate always depend on the commodity code for the goods?

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Classification under a tariff subheading is not an end in itself but serves to determine which measures, tariff or other, should be applied to the goods concerned. However, in case of inward processing in the EU, the question has been raised, whether the duty rate of the processed goods at the time of release for free circulation must be applied in certain cases even though the tariff classification, customs value, and origin of the imported goods are the basis for the duty calculation.