Which EU rules apply to what I import?

Six questions. The answer names each regime that applies to your situation, what it actually requires of you, and the article it rests on. Nothing you enter leaves your browser.

This sorts your situation into the right regimes. It does not classify your specific product, and classification is where most of the cost sits — a wrong customs code or a wrong waste code changes the whole route. Treat the result as the list of things to check, not as a clearance.

Your situation

1. What are you bringing into the EU?

Tick everything that applies. Packaging counts even when the product itself is not listed here.

Consumer goodsClothing, furniture, toys, jewellery, household items Electrical or electronicAnything with a plug, a battery or a chip Chemical substances or mixturesIncluding substances meant to be released from an article Iron, steel, aluminium, cement, fertiliser, hydrogen or electricityThe CBAM list Waste or residuesFor recovery, recycling or disposal Food, feed, cosmetics or medicalOwn regimes, largely outside this tool

2. Where does it come from?

Outside the EUChina, India, Turkey, US, anywhere non-EU The United KingdomNon-EU since 2021, with its own regime Another EU member stateAlready in free circulation

3. Who places it on the EU market?

This is the question that decides who carries the duties — not who owns the goods, and not who touches them.

I doI import and sell it, or I am the seller of record I sell it, shipped direct from my supplierDropshipping My EU customer imports itI sell from outside the EU

4. Who do you sell to?

ConsumersOwn shop, or a marketplace Businesses only Both

6. Is any supplier or customer new to you, or outside the EU?

Yes No, all long-standing EU parties

What applies to you

Answer the questions above and the applicable regimes appear here, each with what it requires and the article it rests on.

What this does not cover

Named, because a triage tool that stays quiet about its edges is worse than none. Each of these has its own regime and none of them is answered above:

CE marking and the product directives — machinery, toys, low voltage, EMC, PPE, radio equipment. Whether your product needs CE, and under which directive, depends on what it is.
RoHS and WEEE — substance restrictions and take-back for electrical equipment, separate from the EPR registration above.
EUDR — the deforestation regulation, for cattle, cocoa, coffee, palm oil, rubber, soy and wood and products made from them.
Food, feed, cosmetics and medical devices — each with its own approval, labelling and notification route.
Customs, origin and duties — tariff classification, preferential origin, anti-dumping measures.
Product classification itself — the single most expensive thing to get wrong, and the one thing a questionnaire cannot do for you.

Where these apply, the providers listed on this site do this work. Naming a company there is not a recommendation.