Welcome to our running blog, your dedicated resource for clear, actionable, and timely updates on European Union and United Kingdom customs, tariffs, and trade policies.

Global supply chains are navigating intense waves of modernization, tighter origin controls, and landmark free trade agreements. Our goal is to strip away the dense legal jargon of customs legislation and deliver the practical insights your business needs to maintain compliance, avoid costly border delays, and optimize tariff exposure.

Whether you are managing complex manufacturing inputs or sourcing consumer retail goods, you will find breakdown guides of critical shifts here. Bookmark this page and subscribe to updates to ensure your logistics and compliance teams never miss a critical customs deadline. If you would like dedicated support please reach out to our European customs team at

Update: July 15 - UK-India Trade Agreement.

As of Wednesday, June 17, the UK has announced that the new UK-India trade deal will officially start on July 15, 2026. This agreement will phase out or lower import duties on most Indian goods, including clothes, shoes, and seafood. To get these lower tax rates, importers must actively claim them on their customs forms and have signed declarations from their Indian suppliers proving where the goods were made. This is especially important for goods that recently lost their duty-free status under older trade schemes, as the new deal will restore those savings.

The UK-India Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) enters into force on 15 July 2026, cutting tariffs on a wide range of Indian goods imported into the UK. The UK government has called it the country's largest bilateral trade deal since leaving the EU, projecting it will add £4.8 billion to GDP and increase bilateral trade by £25.5 billion a year in the long run.

What changes for UK importers sourcing from India?

• Clothing, footwear and textiles: significant tariff reductions for qualifying goods.
• Gems and jewellery: tariffs eliminated.
• Seafood: UK tariffs eliminated.
• Select food categories: duty reductions, though sugar, milled rice, pork, chicken and eggs stay excluded.
• Electric and hybrid vehicles (lower-end): duty-free from year six, within an annual quota.

Not all cuts land on day one. Many reductions are staged over up to 10 years, so importers need to check the UK's tariff schedule for their own commodity code rather than assume zero duty from 15 July.

The preference isn't automatic

Lower rates only apply if you claim them. Importers must declare the preference on their customs declaration and hold valid proof of origin at the time of import; without it, the standard UK Global Tariff applies. Goods also have to meet CETA's rules of origin: either wholly obtained in India, or sufficiently transformed there under product-specific rules that can require a change in tariff classification, a minimum share of qualifying value content, or a defined production process. Qualifying value content thresholds are typically 40% on an ex-works basis or 45% on a free-on-board basis, or 35% under an alternative build-up method. Materials that originate in the UK count toward Indian origin under the agreement's bilateral cumulation rules, and vice versa.

Accepted proof of origin is one of three documents: an Origin Declaration self-certified by the Indian exporter, a Certificate of Origin issued by a competent authority in India, or, in some cases, the importer's own supporting documentation. One declaration can cover multiple identical consignments over a 12-month period, and consignments worth £1,000 or less are exempt from the proof of origin requirement entirely.

Action required before 15 July: DCTS graduation

Since 1 January 2026, certain Indian goods, including textiles, made-up textiles, chemicals, and articles of iron, steel and precious metals, lost their preferential rates under the Developing Countries Trading Scheme (DCTS). That leaves a gap of roughly six and a half months where the standard tariff applies. If your goods were cleared under DCTS, you need to transition to CETA's proof of origin mechanism from 15 July to restore preferential access. Confirm with your Indian supplier which regime applied to your goods, and make sure CETA-compliant documentation is in place before your next shipment arrives.

What to do now

• Confirm which of your commodity codes qualify, and check the tariff schedule for the staging timetable that applies to them.
• Get an Origin Declaration or Certificate of Origin from your Indian supplier ahead of 15 July.
• If your goods were previously cleared under DCTS, line up CETA-compliant proof of origin before your next shipment.
• Keep proof of origin and supporting commercial documents on file. The agreement requires records to be retained for at least five years, and HMRC can audit claims after clearance.

HMRC and Indian customs authorities can both carry out post-clearance verification checks, and an incorrect preference claim can lead to a duty demand and penalties, so only claim preference once you hold valid origin documentation.

To claim preferential duty through Flexport, you'll need to provide your Origin Declaration or Certificate of Origin, a commercial invoice, your 10-digit commodity code, and consignment value. Flexport's classification and trade advisory teams can review your codes ahead of 15 July. Contact your Flexport team.

Update: June 30 - EU & UK Steel Import Rules.

New steel trade measures took effect in both the EU and the UK on July 1, 2026, replacing the safeguard measures that had been in place since 2018. Both regimes work the same way: a set volume of tariff-free imports, and a duty on anything above it.

What changed under the EU's new Steel Regulation?

Regulation (EU) 2026/1384, adopted on 17 June 2026, entered into force on 25 June, and took effect 1 July. It replaces the EU's steel safeguard with a permanent framework.

• Annual tariff-free quota: 18.3 million tonnes, covering 26 steel product categories.
• Out-of-quota duty: 50%, once a category's quota is used up.
• New traceability requirement: importers must document the country where the steel was “melted and poured,” not just where it was last processed.
• Scope: all countries of origin except the European Economic Area (EEA). EEA imports skip the quota and duty but still need melt-and-pour documentation.

How is the 18.3 million tonne quota split up?

A separate Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1457, adopted 29 June, sets out how the quota is distributed among trading partners.

• Half of the annual quota is reserved exclusively for the EU's free trade agreement (FTA) partners.
• The other half is open to all origins, including FTA partners, on a non-discriminatory basis.
• Countries with a significant share of EU steel imports between 2022 and 2024 get a country-specific quota in that product category.
• Everyone else draws from a residual quota, split into a most-favoured-nation (MFN) portion and a separate FTA portion.

The European Commission says this split leaves FTA partners with a smaller reduction than the 47% average cut the regulation otherwise applies. Because the quota had to be distributed by 1 July, the Commission used an urgency procedure: the implementing regulation is valid for up to six months while it goes through the normal EU member state approval process before the end of 2026.

What's still undecided: the evidence for “melt and pour”.

The Steel Regulation requires melt-and-pour documentation, but the rules on what counts as acceptable evidence aren't final yet. The Commission opened a consultation on 4 June, running to 2 July, asking steel producers, traders, and importers what documentation should be required. The resulting Implementing Act is expected by 31 August 2026 and enters into force 1 October 2026. That leaves a gap where the underlying requirement exists from 1 July, but the exact proof standard is still being defined.

The UK is running a parallel measure

The UK's own steel trade measure also took effect 1 July 2026, replacing the UK's steel safeguard, which expired the day before along with its 25% additional safeguard duty.

• Tariff-free quota volumes are reduced 51% compared with the old safeguard.
• Imports above quota face a 50% tariff, matching the EU's rate.
• The UK government says it engaged closely with the EU while designing the measure, given how interconnected the two markets' steel supply chains are.
• Implementation detail, including a Ukraine exemption, quota administration, and how the measure interacts with the UK's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), was updated as recently as 2 July.

What importers should do now:

• Confirm which of the 26 covered product categories your steel imports fall under, and whether your commodity codes changed under the new categorisation.
• Check whether your country of origin has a country-specific quota or draws from the residual MFN or FTA pool.
• If you import into the EU, watch the melt-and-pour consultation outcome before finalising your documentation process.
• If you import into the UK, review the 2 July implementation notice for transitional exemptions and quota administration detail relevant to your goods.

Flexport's Trade Advisory and Customs Brokerage teams can help confirm which quota category and rate applies to your steel imports across both markets. Get in touch with a Flexport customs expert.

Update: June 30 - US-EU Trade Agreement.

As of Tuesday, June 30, the EU has finalized the rules to launch the landmark US-EU Trade Agreement, July 1. This agreement eliminates EU import taxes (duties) on most US-made industrial goods and opens 20 new duty-free quotas for agricultural and seafood imports. Since the final paperwork rules are still being transitionally set up, importers will need to temporarily use standard origin rules (proving the goods were made or substantially transformed in the US) to claim these duty-free rates on their customs declarations. Read more on the US-EU Trade Agreement here