Every fact on this page carries a date and a source, because a fact without a date is an opinion. Regulatory facts name the regulation and the article and link to the text on EUR-Lex. Market and measurement facts state how they were established. Cite freely; a link back to importrules.com is enough.
11 numbers that decide what you owe and when. Each one is taken from the answer on this site that establishes it, with that answer's own source and check date.
| Fact | Source |
|---|---|
| The General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR) has applied since 13 December 2024 and requires a Responsible Person established in the EU for most consumer products. | Source: Regulation (EU) 2023/988 (GPSR), Article 16; applicable since 13 December 2024. Checked: 2 September 2026. Full answer. |
| The REACH registration duty starts at one tonne per legal entity per substance per calendar year, not per shipment and not per product line. | Source: Regulation (EC) 1907/2006, Article 6(1); ECHA guidance on registration. Checked: 2 September 2026. Full answer. |
| CBAM applies from 50 tonnes of CBAM goods imported per calendar year, counted over iron and steel, aluminium, cement and fertilisers together; below that threshold the regime does not apply to those goods. Hydrogen and electricity are outside the threshold and in scope from the first consignment, and nobody warns you at 49. | Source: Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Article 2a (de minimis exemption) and Annex VII, as inserted by Regulation (EU) 2025/2083 of 8 October 2025, published in the Official Journal on 17 October 2025 and in force on 20 October 2025; paragraph 4 excludes electricity and hydrogen, paragraph 3 provides for annual review of the threshold. Checked: 5 September 2026. Full answer. |
| A GPSR technical file has to be kept for ten years and produced to authorities on request. | Source: Regulation (EU) 2023/988, Articles 9(3) and 11(6). Checked: 5 September 2026. Full answer. |
| An economic operator has two working days to answer a market surveillance authority that reports a safety problem. | Source: Regulation (EU) 2023/988, Articles 20 and 35 (Safety Gate). Checked: 3 September 2026. Full answer. |
| Selling packaged goods in Germany without a LUCID registration can be fined up to €200,000 per case, and the sales stopped outright. | Source: Verpackungsgesetz (VerpackG); Zentrale Stelle Verpackungsregister (ZSVR), LUCID register. Checked: 3 September 2026. Full answer. |
| There is no EU-wide EPR register: every member state runs its own scheme, so selling into five countries means five registrations. | Source: national EPR regimes implementing Directive 2008/98/EC, Articles 8 and 8a (extended producer responsibility and the minimum requirements for such schemes); Regulation (EU) 2025/40, Article 44 (register of producers, one per member state) and Article 45 (extended producer responsibility). Checked: 5 September 2026. Full answer. |
| A wrong tariff code is recovered retroactively with interest over three years, ten where a criminal act is involved. | Source: Union Customs Code, Articles 103 and 105 (limitation of the customs debt); Article 121 (repayment and remission). Checked: 4 September 2026. Full answer. |
| Company fines for serious sanctions violations must be at least 1% of worldwide annual turnover across the EU; in the Netherlands an intentional violation carries up to six years' imprisonment. | Source: Sanctiewet 1977 Article 2 (Wetten.overheid.nl); Directive (EU) 2024/1226; ECLI:NL:RBROT:2024:11674; European sanctions enforcement trackers. Checked: 4 September 2026. Full answer. |
| The Packaging Regulation applies from 12 August 2026, but its authorised-representative duty is narrow. Article 45(3) reaches only producers within Article 3(1), point (15)(c) and (d): those who first make packaging available in another member state directly to end users, so distance selling and e-commerce. Import into the member state where you are established and sell on there, and you register yourself under Article 44(2) and need no representative in any country. | Source: Regulation (EU) 2025/40, Articles 3(1)(15), 44(2), 45(3) and 71, and recital 123, which describes the same situation as supply “by means of distance contracts directly to the end user”. For producers established outside the EU the second sentence of Article 45(3) leaves it to each member state (“Member States may provide”), so it is a national choice rather than an EU-wide duty. Checked: 5 September 2026. |
| A member state’s standard VAT rate must be at least 15%, and the VAT Directive sets no maximum. That is why the rates differ across the Union: the floor is harmonised, the rate is not. | Source: Council Directive 2006/112/EC, Articles 96 and 97; European Commission, VAT rates: the standard rate “must be no less than 15%, but there is no maximum”. Checked: 5 September 2026. |
A rate is not a threshold, so it does not belong in the table above. What matters to an importer is which rate reaches him, and whether he pays it at the border at all.
| Fact | Source |
|---|---|
| Each member state sets its own standard VAT rate. As at 4 September 2026 the 27 national standard rates run from 17% (Luxembourg) to 27% (Hungary), and they fall on only 11 distinct values. You do not need 27 lookups; you need the one for the member state of import. | Source: rates per member state: Taxes in Europe Database (TEDB), European Commission. The two ends were checked against PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries: Luxembourg 17% (reviewed 31 July 2026, described there as the lowest standard rate in the EU) and Hungary 27% (reviewed 1 July 2026). The count of member states and of distinct values is a count of the table on our VAT page, not a source for the rates themselves. Checked: 5 September 2026. |
| The rate on importation is not automatically the standard rate: it is the rate that member state applies to the supply of like goods on its own territory, which can be a reduced rate. | Source: Council Directive 2006/112/EC, Article 94(2). Checked: 5 September 2026. |
| For a VAT-registered importer, import VAT is normally cash flow, not cost: it is deductible as input tax, and under a deferment or reverse-charge scheme (the Netherlands: an Article 23 licence; Belgium: ET 14.000) nothing is paid at the border at all. | Source: Council Directive 2006/112/EC, Article 168(e) (deduction of VAT paid on importation). The national deferment schemes are national law, not the Directive. Checked: 5 September 2026. |
| A country is not always one rate, and not every territory is in the EU VAT area: mainland Portugal is at 23% while Madeira is at 22% and the Azores at 16%, and Ceuta and Melilla lie outside the EU VAT territory altogether. | Source: PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries, Portugal, Other taxes (reviewed 24 July 2026), for the three Portuguese rates; European Commission, Territorial scope, for Ceuta and Melilla. Checked: 5 September 2026. |
All 29 dated milestones from the compliance calendar, generated from the same file the calendar publishes as JSON. Calendar last checked 19 September 2026.
| Date | What changes | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13 December 2024 | The General Product Safety Regulation becomes applicable | Regulation (EU) 2023/988 (GPSR), Article 16 | 3 September 2026 |
| 16 July 2025 | The DOCOM model changes and record keeping goes digital | Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/1379 (OJ, 16 July 2025) | 3 September 2026 |
| 18 August 2025 | The battery producer registration deadline has passed | Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 (Batteries Regulation); national registers | 3 September 2026 |
| 20 October 2025 | The CBAM Omnibus takes effect: 50 tonnes becomes a full exemption | Regulation (EU) 2023/956 as amended by the CBAM Omnibus Regulation (adopted 8 October 2025, in force 20 October 2025) | 3 September 2026 |
| 5 November 2025 | ECHA registration fees rise by 19.5% | ECHA fee regulation; ECHA fee tables | 3 September 2026 |
| 1 January 2026 | The definitive CBAM regime begins | Regulation (EU) 2023/956; Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/486 | 3 September 2026 |
| 31 March 2026 | Last day to benefit from the transitional rule for authorised declarants | Regulation (EU) 2023/956; CBAM registry procedure | 3 September 2026 |
| 1 May 2026 | The EU–Mercosur agreement is provisionally applied | EU–Mercosur agreement, provisionally applied 1 May 2026 | 4 September 2026 |
| 21 May 2026 | DIWASS becomes compulsory for notified shipments | Regulation (EU) 2024/1157, Article 27(1)(b) | 3 September 2026 |
| 20 July 2026 | The Digital Product Passport registry goes live | Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1778; Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 (ESPR) | 3 September 2026 |
| 12 August 2026 | An authorised representative for packaging is required in every member state | Regulation (EU) 2025/40 (PPWR); national packaging schemes | 3 September 2026 |
| 11 September 2026 | First CRA obligation: vulnerability and incident reporting starts | Regulation (EU) 2024/2847 (Cyber Resilience Act), Articles 14 and 71 | 3 September 2026 |
| November 2026 | Bangladesh graduates from least developed country status | UN LDC graduation of Bangladesh, November 2026; Everything But Arms under the EU GSP | 4 September 2026 |
| 9 November 2026 | Black mass becomes hazardous waste under code 19 14 02 | Amended European List of Waste, entry 19 14 02 | 3 September 2026 |
| 21 November 2026 | Exports of plastic waste to non-OECD countries are banned | Regulation (EU) 2024/1157, Articles 39 and 40 | 3 September 2026 |
| 30 December 2026 | The Deforestation Regulation applies to large and medium operators | Regulation (EU) 2023/1115 as amended by the December 2025 postponement | 3 September 2026 |
| 31 December 2026 | Last day Annex VII may be completed on paper | Regulation (EU) 2024/1157 | 3 September 2026 |
| 1 January 2027 | Annex VII goes digital, with two working days' notice | Regulation (EU) 2024/1157, Article 27 | 3 September 2026 |
| 1 January 2027 | The new GSP Regulation applies and GSP+ stops being automatic | Regulation (EU) 2026/1395, applicable from 1 January 2027 | 4 September 2026 |
| 20 January 2027 | The Machinery Regulation replaces the Machinery Directive | Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, applying from 20 January 2027 | 3 September 2026 |
| February 2027 | Sales of CBAM certificates begin | Regulation (EU) 2023/956; Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/486 | 3 September 2026 |
| 5 February 2027 | SME status is verified in advance | ECHA fee regulation; ECHA SME verification procedure | 3 September 2026 |
| 18 February 2027 | The battery passport applies | Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 (Batteries Regulation), Article 77 | 3 September 2026 |
| 21 May 2027 | An audit duty applies to the receiving facility outside the EU | Regulation (EU) 2024/1157, export chapter | 3 September 2026 |
| 30 June 2027 | The Deforestation Regulation applies to micro and small enterprises too | Regulation (EU) 2023/1115 as amended by the December 2025 postponement | 3 September 2026 |
| 30 September 2027 | The annual declaration for 2026 is due | Regulation (EU) 2023/956 | 3 September 2026 |
| 30 December 2027 | The products added by Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/2102 come into scope | Regulation (EU) 2023/1115, Annex I as amended by Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/2102 | 19 September 2026 |
| 31 December 2029 | The old timber regulation stops applying to pre-2023 timber | Regulation (EU) 2023/1115, Articles 37(2) and (3) and 38(3) | 19 September 2026 |
| 30 June 2030 | First general review of the Deforestation Regulation | Regulation (EU) 2023/1115, Article 34(2) | 19 September 2026 |
| Fact | How established | Status date |
|---|---|---|
| Published prices for an EU Responsible Person service run from roughly €200 to €800 per year, usually per catalogue rather than per product. | published provider pricing; seller-reported prices in marketplace forums (full answer) | checked 3 Sep 2026 |
| Marketplaces have been suspending listings that lack a recorded EU Responsible Person since 2025, regardless of whether the product itself is safe. | marketplace seller policies; full answer | checked 2 Sep 2026 |
| A UK company cannot act as EU Responsible Person: the role requires establishment inside the EU. | Source: Regulation (EU) 2023/988, Article 16 ("established in the Union"); the UK left the EU on 31 January 2020, transition ended 31 December 2020. Checked: 3 September 2026. (full answer) | checked 3 Sep 2026 |
Method: per company, the buyer questions buyers actually put to language models are put to the search and source services those models draw on; we count who is named and who is not. A control question runs along and stops the measurement if the source is down. Full method: about page.
| Fact | Measurement | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Of 12 measured EU authorised-representative providers, 11 were not named in any of the three most common buyer questions. | n=12 companies × 3 questions, example report | 2 Sep 2026 |
| Three providers (holdwise.nl, euverify.com and eurogpsr.com) occupy the top source positions across nearly all measured questions. | same measurement | 2–3 Sep 2026 |
| Two of the twelve measured providers moved from "not named anywhere" to "named" within one day of first measurement; positions in language-model answers move measurably day to day. | measurement of 2 Sep against 3 Sep, n=12 | 3 Sep 2026 |
The measurement facts are snapshots from the dates shown, not a running average. The series behind them belongs to the AI-visibility monitor.
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