
EU and UK customs duty and tax waivers for Coronavirus equipment
Existing EU legislation is available to waive customs duties and taxes to help disaster victims. It is now applied in the fight against Coronavirus in the EU.
Existing EU legislation is available to waive customs duties and taxes to help disaster victims. It is now applied in the fight against Coronavirus in the EU.
In this current time of crisis, it is of vital importance for medical equipment and devices to get delivered quickly to where they are needed.
The EU already has existing regulation in place that can enable duty relief for the “benefit of disaster victims”. It can be applied to imports by state organizations or approved charitable or philanthropic organisations. An EU Commission decision is required to grant such a customs duty relief, which is based on the relevant request of the concerned member state. A similar regulation is available for EU VAT law with reference to VAT exemption on the final importation of certain goods.
(Source: Council Regulation (EU) No 1186/2009 and Council Directive 2009/132/EU)
On March 20, 2020, the EU Commission invited all its members states (and the UK) to submit a request for waiving customs duties and VAT on imports of protective and other medical equipment from third countries. All EU member states as well as the UK have submitted their requests.
On April 3, 2020, the EU approved these requests to temporarily waive customs duties and VAT on the import of relevant equipment from applicable countries. This will make it easier financially to get the medical equipment that doctors, nurses and patients desperately need to fight Coronavirus.
The duty- and VAT-free importation of defined materials to fight Coronavirus applies to: