UK DCTS: zero-duty exports to the UK, tiers, origin declaration (2026)

The three preference tiers

DCTS gives three levels of preference. The tier of your country decides whether your product enters the UK duty-free, at a reduced rate or at the normal UK Global Tariff rate, so check both the tier and the commodity code in the UK Trade Tariff.

• Comprehensive Preferences: 0% import tariffs on 99.8% of products, all products except arms and ammunition. They cover the least developed countries, for example Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Ethiopia and Tanzania.
• Enhanced Preferences: 0% import tariffs on 92% of product lines, with the rest at normal UK tariffs. Examples are Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Nigeria, Uzbekistan and Mongolia.
• Standard Preferences: 0% import tariffs on 65% of product lines and reduced tariffs on a further 26%. The countries are India and Indonesia.
• When a country graduates from least developed country status, it has a transition period of 3 years before moving to Enhanced Preferences.
• Vietnam signed a free trade agreement with the UK and left DCTS, so Vietnamese exporters use that agreement instead.

Proving origin: the origin declaration or Form A

The UK importer claims the preferential tariff in the customs import declaration, using an origin declaration or a Form A. Any exporter operating in a beneficiary country can make an origin declaration for any consignment, provided it keeps appropriate commercial records and can provide supporting documents on request.

The declaration must be made out on an invoice or any other commercial document that describes the goods in enough detail to identify them. HMRC gives this text: "The exporter of the products covered by this document (customs identification number …) declares that, except where otherwise clearly indicated, these products are of … preferential origin in accordance with the rules of origin of the Developing Countries Trading Scheme of the UK and that the origin criterion met is…". The exporter fills in its customs identification number, the country of origin and the origin criterion: "P" for wholly obtained goods or "W" followed by the HS heading for sufficiently processed goods.

If the preference was not claimed at import, the importer can claim it retrospectively no later than 2 years after the date of importation, with valid proof of origin, if the goods originate from a DCTS country.

Rules of origin and the changes from 1 January 2026

Goods qualify only if they meet the DCTS rules of origin for their product. Changes announced in July 2025 came into effect on 1 January 2026.

• New regional cumulation groups: an Africa group with two-way cumulation between DCTS countries in Africa, and an Asia group extended to countries in Central Asia, Mongolia and Timor-Leste.
• Clothing (HS chapters 61 and 62): Enhanced Preferences countries get the same product-specific rules as Comprehensive Preferences countries, without the rule that two significant processes, such as making the fabric and the garment, must take place in the country.
• Because Enhanced Preferences now use the same clothing rules, a country moving from Comprehensive to Enhanced Preferences after leaving least developed country status keeps the same clothing rules.