EORI Number: Who Needs One, Format, How to Apply and Check (EU, UK)

What an EORI number is and who needs one

EORI stands for Economic Operators Registration and Identification. It is an identification number, unique in the EU customs territory, that a customs authority assigns to register a business or person for customs purposes (Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446, Article 1(18)). The European Commission says it is mandatory for all types of customs operations in the EU, such as import, export and transit. A person can hold only one valid EORI number at a time (Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2447, Article 7(2)).

Under Article 9 of the Union Customs Code (UCC), economic operators established in the EU register with the customs authority where they are established. For a company, established means a registered office, central headquarters or permanent business establishment in the EU. Economic operators not established in the EU register only in specific cases, with the customs authority where they first lodge a declaration or apply for a decision. Other persons, such as private individuals, register only when the law requires it, and someone who lodges declarations only occasionally can be exempted where customs consider it justified (Delegated Regulation 2015/2446, Article 6(2)).

The UK kept the system after Brexit: HMRC issues GB numbers and, for Northern Ireland, XI numbers. These rules come from the current UCC, Regulation (EU) No 952/2013. Its replacement, Regulation (EU) 2026/2108, entered into force on 20 September 2026 and applies in stages from 2027 to 2034, so watch for changes to registration.

Non-EU businesses: when you need your own EU EORI

A business outside the EU does not need an EU EORI just to sell to EU buyers; German customs says non-EU operators have no general obligation to get one. Delegated Regulation 2015/2446, Article 5, requires registration only before a non-EU business lodges a customs declaration in the EU, an entry or exit summary declaration (ENS or EXS) or a temporary storage declaration, or acts as a carrier by sea, inland waterway or air, or as a carrier connected to the customs system that wants ENS notifications.

• Exceptions: oral and other simplified declarations, including for postal consignments (Articles 135 to 144 of that regulation), most temporary admission declarations, and transit declarations by operators established in common transit countries. Sea and air carriers with a number from a third-country trader partnership programme that the EU recognises do not register.
• Where to register: once, in the EU country of your first customs operation. The number is then valid in every member state. If two countries issue you a number, the first one is kept and the second invalidated.
• How: through the national customs authority, free of charge in Germany and France, for example. Germany makes its Zoll-Portal mandatory from 1 October 2026, and non-EU applicants can still send form 0870 with a written reason why German customs is competent. France uses the SOPRANO online service and asks applicants without a French VAT number for a company register extract and proof that France is the place of their first customs operation.
• Timing: it varies by country. The Commission advises applying before you start, because registration can take several days; French numbers become active 24 hours after issue.
• Switzerland does not issue EORI numbers. Swiss companies use their UID (CHE-123.456.789) with Swiss customs, and follow the rules above when they need an EU EORI.

United Kingdom: GB and XI numbers

You need a GB EORI to move goods between Great Britain (or the Isle of Man) and any other country, including the EU, and between Great Britain and Northern Ireland or the Channel Islands. Goods that are not controlled and are for personal use only need none. A business usually needs premises in the UK to get one. A business not established in the UK can get one only for listed activities, such as transit or temporary admission declarations, applying for a customs decision, entry, exit or temporary storage declarations, or acting as a carrier. Otherwise it appoints someone to deal with customs for it, and that person gets the EORI instead.

Apply on GOV.UK. HMRC issues a GB number immediately unless it needs to make checks, which can take up to 5 working days. A UK business gives its Unique Taxpayer Reference, business start date, SIC code and VAT number if registered; a business not based in the UK does not need the UTR or SIC code. A GB number is GB plus 12 digits and includes the VAT number of a VAT-registered business. Cancelling UK VAT registration cancels the EORI at the same time, and cancelling a GB number also cancels the XI number.

An XI EORI is needed to move goods into Northern Ireland from Great Britain or from Northern Ireland to a non-EU country, or to make a declaration in Northern Ireland. Get a GB number first, then fill in the XI form; HMRC issues it within 5 days and asks for proof of a permanent business establishment in Northern Ireland, unless you need it only for certain declarations or as a carrier. A business that already has an EU EORI does not need an XI number, and an XI number can be used for EU declarations only by a business with a permanent establishment in Northern Ireland.

Format and how to check a number

An EU EORI starts with the two-letter code of the issuing country, followed by up to 15 letters or digits chosen by that country, often a tax or company number. The Netherlands uses NL plus the 9-digit RSIN. France uses FR plus the 9-digit SIREN or, in the older form, the 14-digit SIRET; France will deactivate SIRET-based EORIs in the second half of 2026, on a date still to be announced, and EU-wide customs applications already do not accept them.

Looking like a VAT number does not make a number an EORI: only a number registered in the EORI system is valid. EORI numbers have no expiry date, but customs invalidate them on request or when the business stops the activities that needed registration (Delegated Regulation 2015/2446, Article 7).

• EU and XI numbers: the European Commission's EORI validation service. It shows the name and address only if the holder agreed to publication.
• GB numbers: HMRC's Check an EORI number service, which also shows the name and address only if the business agreed.
• Save a dated screenshot of the result in the shipment file, and check again for a new buyer or after a long gap.

Where the EORI goes: declarations, ICS2, bookings and invoices

Customs use the EORI to identify the parties in electronic declarations. Commercial documents carry it so that brokers and carriers can copy it correctly.

• Import and export declarations: the declarant's EORI and, where held, the importer's or exporter's and the representative's. HMRC's guide asks for the importer's GB, EU or XI EORI on commercial imports unless a legal exemption applies.
• Entry summary declaration (ENS) in ICS2, which has covered all transport modes into the EU since 1 September 2025, apart from some temporary national derogations: the person lodging it gives its own EORI and, if different, the carrier's. Sea carriers also ask for the EU consignee's EORI if it has one, or its full address if not.
• Carrier bookings and shipping instructions: the consignee's EORI for the ENS; express carriers ask for the receiver's EORI on business shipments to the EU.
• Commercial invoice and packing list: brokers and carriers often copy the EORIs from these, so show the exporter's (if it has one) and the importer's. Triplicate's free generator makes both.
• Statement on origin under the EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement: a UK exporter uses its EORI as the exporter reference number, and an EU exporter its REX number, for consignments over EUR 6,000.

DAP, DDP and consumer parcels (IOSS)

On DAP, FCA or FOB terms the buyer clears the goods, so its EORI, or its broker's, goes on the import declaration. On DDP you clear them. In the EU the declarant must normally be established in the EU (UCC Article 170), so a non-EU seller usually uses an indirect representative, which declares in its own name with its own EORI. Agree in writing whose EORI goes in the importer and declarant fields. In the UK, a seller without a UK establishment appoints someone to deal with customs, who holds the EORI.

Consumers normally need no EORI. In the EU, where national law does not require private individuals to register, the importer's EORI field in the low-value (H7) declaration is left blank. In the UK, goods for personal use that are not controlled need none.

The IOSS number is not an EORI. It is a VAT identification number (IM plus 10 digits) that lets you charge EU VAT at checkout on consignments up to EUR 150. You give it to the carrier or postal operator, which declares it in a separate data element. Since 1 July 2026 these distance-sale consignments also pay a EUR 3 customs duty per item, whatever the VAT scheme, until 1 July 2028.