Glossary of importing from China

An additional duty imposed by European regulation on a defined category of goods and origin, where their export price is judged lower than their normal value. Its amount frequently exceeds that of ordinary duty. It sometimes targets named manufacturers: two factories making the same product can fall under different rates.

Acceptable Quality Limit. A statistical standard setting how many pieces to draw from a lot and from how many defects the lot is rejected. It distinguishes three severities — critical, major, minor — with different tolerances attached: a critical defect is in principle disqualifying, a minor one accepted within an agreed proportion.

Issued by the sea carrier, it is at once evidence of receipt, contract of carriage and document of title to the goods: without the original, you do not take delivery. Withholding it is the most common payment lever in maritime trade.

The cubic metre, the pricing unit of groupage transport. Freight takes the higher of actual weight and volumetric weight: light, bulky goods are charged on their volume. Badly conceived packing often costs more than a discount on the unit price.

The status any importer of cement, iron, steel, aluminium, fertilisers, electricity or hydrogen above fifty tonnes a year must obtain. Since April 2026, covered goods presented without that authorisation are held at customs.

A professional authorised to complete customs formalities on behalf of a third party: preparing and lodging declarations, calculating duties and taxes, interfacing with the administration. Using one does not transfer responsibility for the particulars declared.

The base for calculating duty and VAT: the price actually paid, plus carriage and insurance to the point of entry into the Union. A FOB price is therefore not a customs value — freight and insurance must be added before any calculation.

Delivered Duty Paid. The incoterm under which the seller delivers to your door with customs duty paid. The most comfortable in appearance, the riskiest in practice: the Chinese seller must clear customs in a country where it holds no tax registration.

Daily charges penalising a container's immobilisation within the port area beyond the free period. To be distinguished from detention charges, which run where the container has left the port without being returned. Both accumulate while an incomplete file is put right.

The single customs identifier assigned to any company importing into or exporting from the European Union. Free, obtained from the customs authorities, valid in every member state, and indispensable before the goods arrive.

Full Container Load: you book a whole container, opened only at destination. Less than Container Load: your goods are grouped with other shippers'. Groupage avoids tying up a container but adds two handling operations and makes your lead time depend on the other lots.

The product's international tariff classification, in six digits harmonised worldwide and taken to eight on import into the Union. It determines the duty rate, the existence of anti-dumping duty and the applicable standards. Responsibility for classification rests with the importer.

A three-letter rule published by the International Chamber of Commerce, allocating transport costs, transfer of risk and responsibility for customs formalities. Eleven rules coexist, seven of them usable whatever the mode of transport. A complete reference cites the rule, the named place and the edition.

The value of the goods alone, excluding transport and insurance. It serves as the reference for certain regulatory thresholds, and is to be distinguished from the customs value, which on the contrary includes those costs and serves as the base for duty.

Minimum Order Quantity. The minimum quantity a manufacturer will accept. It reflects an industrial threshold rather than a commercial whim: machine set-up cost, minimum raw material batch. It is easier to negotiate on a standard product than on a customised one.

The declaration by which whoever places a product on the market attests that it meets the European texts applicable to it. It is not a certificate issued by an authority, and it concerns only the product families covered by a text that requires it.

The European extension of the harmonised system, taking the six-digit code harmonised worldwide to eight digits. It is those two extra digits that fix the duty rate applicable on import into the Union.

Under OEM you bring the design and the factory manufactures to your specification. Under ODM the factory starts from a product it has already developed and you adapt it. OEM protects your distinctiveness better; ODM costs less and reaches market sooner.

The unit produced on the production line, with the final materials and tooling, before full production is launched. It differs from the commercial sample, often hand-made. Its written approval fixes the reference against which the run will be compared.

The check carried out once production is complete and packed, but before the goods leave. It is the last stage at which a defect can be corrected without the container having already sailed — and therefore the last moment at which the unpaid balance retains its leverage.

A binding quotation set out as an invoice: description, quantities, unit price, incoterm, lead time and payment terms. It serves as the basis of the order and, often, as supporting document for the transfer. It is the document to read line by line — most disputes arise from what it omits.

Binding tariff information. A written decision of the customs administration fixing a product's classification. It binds the administration for three years and holds good throughout the European Union. Free of charge, it is the cheapest protection against reassessment on a recurring flow.

The operation of loading goods into the container. In groupage it is carried out by the freight forwarder together with other shippers' lots; for a full container, most often at the factory. The moment of stuffing is the last opportunity to inspect visually what is leaving.

The set of documents demonstrating a product's conformity: description, drawings, standards applied, calculations, tests and risk assessment. It is not public but must be producible at the request of market surveillance authorities, and the importer must satisfy itself that it exists before placing the product on the market.

The release of goods at destination without presentation of an original bill of lading, on the shipper's instruction to its carrier. Common in air freight and on short crossings, where the goods outrun documents sent by post.

Telegraphic Transfer, the international bank transfer. The dominant means of payment in trade with China: fast and cheap, but it conditions nothing — once sent, it is very hard to call back.