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FinlandTulli

Tulli makes defacing low-value samples mandatory for duty relief

Tulli now states marking and permanent defacement as standing conditions for Article 86 low-value sample relief; samples that cannot meet the relief conditions clear as normal imports.

By Taxxa AI OyPublished 9 November 2026

Tax

Industry: Across industries

Businesses bringing negligible-value goods samples from outside the EU customs territory to solicit orders can still have them admitted free of import duties under Article 86 of the duty-relief RegulationEuropa, but Tulli's guidance now states two cumulative conditions as the standing ruleTulli: the goods must be marked as samplesTulli, and they must also be rendered permanently unusable as commercial goods while remaining usable as samplesTulli. Only an order-solicitation quantity may be brought inTulli, and the manner of presentation and quantity must rule out any use other than seeking orders for the goods they represent.

That is a stricter posture than the previous version of the same guidance, which said samples could be defacedTulli and that Customs could require permanent marking only if it so demandedTulli. Article 86(2) of the Regulation provides that the competent authorities may require certain articles to be rendered permanently unusableEuropa, by tearing, perforating, or clear and indelible marking, or by any other process that does not destroy their character as samples. Importers should therefore expect defacement to be imposed as a matter of course rather than treated as an optional step.Tulli

Relief remains narrow. Samples admitted as low-value samples must not be sold or otherwise freely transferred, and relief does not set aside any import prohibitions or restrictions. A customs declaration must always be lodged for samples, even where nothing was paid for them or their value is negligible, and the country of dispatch should be confirmed against the EU customs and fiscal territory before ordering or declaring. Import restrictions should be checked in the Fintaric service before import.

Where the relief conditions are not met, or relief is not sought, samples are cleared as a normal importTulli: tariff duty under the commodity code, import VAT and any other import charges are levied, and after presentation the goods can be used without restriction, including resale to customers. Customs supervision of the samples ends once the release decision is received.

The restructured guidance keeps the two neighbouring relief routes in place. Small samples manufactured outside the EU customs territory for advertising at trade fairs or similar events fall under Articles 90 to 94, with the quantity and value proportionate to the event, its visitors and the exhibitor's participation. Goods brought in for examination, analysis or trial use fall under Articles 95 to 101, where the main purpose cannot be sales promotion and the examination or trial must concern the imported goods themselves, with the goods expected to be consumed in the process.

This page no longer carries the previous step-by-step declaration walkthrough for low-value samples: the free-form statement of intended use, procedure code 40 for release for free circulation, additional procedure code C30, the VAT Act reference and the document-code instructions for the commercial invoice and the statement no longer appear here. Declarants who relied on those instructions should follow the current declaration guidance and the linked sample pages instead.

Legal basis: Council Regulation (EC) No 1186/2009, Articles 86, 90-94 and 95-101.

Mark low-value samples as samples and render them permanently unusable before claiming Article 86 duty relief, and check Fintaric for import restrictions before ordering.

Sources