An EORI number for importers buying from China into the EU

Last fact-checked: November 10, 2026.

A company in Rotterdam is about to file its first entry for a container from Ningbo. The forwarder asks for "the EORI" and the buyer pastes a number a UK consultant issued two years ago, when the same buyer still cleared in Felixstowe. The Dutch entry does not want that number. An EORI for the European Union is the identification the EU customs authority assigns. The British number is a different regime. Mixing them is how a first shipment sits in a queue over an identifier.

The country files that sit around the number are the Netherlands import guide, Germany, France, Spain, and Italy. Questions about a British identifier belong on the United Kingdom import guide, not here. The wider map is importing from China.

What the Commission page says the number is

The European Commission page on the Economic Operators Registration and Identification number, read on 10 November 2026, says an EORI number is mandatory for the clearance of customs operations in the EU customs territory, including import, export, and transit. A person has one valid number at a time. Economic operators communicate it to the customs authorities for customs operations. The format on that page is a two-letter country code of the issuing EU country, then an identifier that is unique in that country, up to 15 alphanumeric characters.

Who assigns it depends on where you are established. If you are established in the EU, it is the customs authority of the country where you are established. If you are not, it is the EU country in which you intend to lodge the first declaration or apply for a decision. Operators who are not established need a number when they lodge a customs declaration, an entry summary declaration, an exit summary declaration, or a temporary-storage declaration, or when they act as a carrier. The page also covers other persons where national legislation or another EU act requires it. It does not say that emailing a Chinese supplier creates the obligation.

Germany's application, as a worked official example

German customs, on the page opened the same day, say the number is valid throughout the European Union and that applying is free of charge. They also say that from 1 October 2026 the Customs Portal is mandatory, and that the older 0870 forms are only for exceptional cases. Today is after that date, so the portal is the route their page describes, not the paper form. They assign the number on request, through the Master Data Management office in Dresden.

The same German page has a note for operators who are not based in the Union. There is no general obligation. A number is required if, for example, you want to appear as a declarant or as a carrier. Registration is in one member state, and the application goes to the state where the first declaration will be lodged or a decision applied for. A service that offers to "get you an EU EORI" without asking which of those you are is selling a step you may not need, or a step that has to be filed in a specific country. The German page says there is no need to use third-party providers charging fees. This article does not print anyone else's fee.

One container, three wrong numbers

The Rotterdam company needs the number from the Netherlands, because that is where it is established. A German number would be the wrong issuing country for a Dutch establishment. A GB number would be the wrong regime. A company in Shenzhen that wants its European forwarder to be the declarant should read the German note before it pays for a number in its own name: the obligation the German page describes attaches when that company appears as declarant or carrier, not when it sells the goods. Who is named on the entry is a question for the forwarder and the broker, in writing. The validation service on the Commission site checks a number. It does not issue one.

Before the first EU entry

• The party who will lodge the declaration, not the party who happens to be emailing the supplier.
• The member state of establishment, or, if there is none, the member state of the first declaration.
• One number. The Commission page says a person has one valid number at a time.
• A check on the Commission's validation service if someone hands you a number you did not apply for.
• The country guide for the arrival. This page is the identifier. It is not the VAT return and it is not the product file.

Does the supplier in China need an EU EORI to sell to me?

Not from the pages opened. The obligation is about customs operations in the EU. A supplier who never lodges an EU declaration and is not the carrier is outside the examples the German page gives. If your contract makes them the declarant, read that page again before you assume.

Can one number be used in every member state?

The German page says the number is valid throughout the European Union. It is still issued by one authority, in the format the Commission page describes. It is not a GB number with the letters changed.

Put the destination country, who will be the declarant, and whether an EU number already exists on the RFQ. Do not paste a GB number into an EU entry to save an afternoon.

An EORI sits on the customs clearance sequence, next to the importer of record, and, for consumer goods, the EU GPSR responsible person.

Official sources

• European Commission, EORI number, read 10 November 2026. Mandatory for EU customs clearance. One valid number. Format and who assigns it are as summarised above.
• German customs, requesting an EORI number, read 10 November 2026. Application free of charge. Customs Portal mandatory from 1 October 2026. Non-established operators are covered only in the cases that page lists.
• European Commission, EORI validation. It checks a number. It does not issue one.
• GOV.UK, Get an EORI number, read 10 November 2026, for the British identifier this article is not about.