The questions, with answers
Is there an EU–US trade agreement? none
No free trade agreement. Goods from the United States pay the ordinary Common Customs Tariff rate, with no preferential origin to claim. Duty is decided entirely by the customs classification, so the code is where the money is.
Full answer — the grounds, the numbers, the pitfalls
Whether a preference actually applies is decided per product by the origin rule in the agreement, not by where the goods were shipped from. Rules of origin works that through, and the goods code decides which rule you are under. A claim without valid proof is recovered from the importer, three years back, with interest.
Source: European Commission, Common Customs Tariff; no EU–US free trade agreement in force. Checked: 5 September 2026.
I'm a US company selling on Amazon.de. Do I need an EU Responsible Person?
Yes. Amazon suspended thousands of US-based listings in 2025 for exactly this: selling to EU consumers from outside the EU means the Responsible Person must be established inside the Union; a US LLC cannot take the role. Most US sellers appoint a service for €200–800 per year.
Where in Seller Central do I upload this?
Seller Central → Account Health → Manage Your Compliance → Add compliance information. Upload the Responsible Person, manufacturer and technical documentation there. One upload syncs across all EU marketplaces.
Source: Amazon Seller Central guidance, 2025–2026. Checked: 4 September 2026.
My supplier quoted DDP. Is that the same as having a Responsible Person?
No: they are different layers. DDP is a shipping term saying the seller pays duties and taxes; the Responsible Person is a product-safety role required by GPSR. A DDP shipment can arrive perfectly cleared and still have a listing suspended for lacking the Responsible Person.
How much does all this cost a small US seller?
Responsible Person service €200–800 per year; technical file from a few hundred (simple product) to thousands (toys, electrical); labelling per product run; EPR registration per country from free to a few hundred. For many small sellers the total is under €1,500 per year; if done right the first time.
Source: Published provider pricing, checked 4 September 2026. See
the cost answer.
Do I need to register for VAT in the EU?
For B2C distance sales: yes, via the One-Stop Shop (OSS); one registration in one EU country covers all member states. For imports of goods to consumers under €150: IOSS. Your own US entity registers; no EU subsidiary needed.
Source: VAT e-commerce package (Dir. (EU) 2017/2455). Checked: 4 September 2026.
Everyone talks about EPR. What is it and where do I register?
Extended producer responsibility makes whoever first puts packaging, electrical equipment or batteries on a national market pay for collecting and treating that waste. It is national, not EU-wide: Germany's LUCID register and France's unique identifier per waste stream are separate filings, and the marketplaces check them before a listing runs. Under
Regulation (EU) 2025/40 a producer selling into a member state where he is not established has to appoint an authorised representative for extended producer responsibility there, applicable from 12 August 2026. This is where a US seller usually gets the shape wrong: OSS gives you one VAT registration for the whole Union, EPR gives you nothing of the kind. The two are unrelated systems that both use the word registration.
Who can do this for me?
Source: Editorial list, checked 4 September 2026.
Next steps
Appoint a Responsible Person before your listings are suspended, not after; restoring a suspended listing takes longer than setting one up. The full guide covers GPSR, REACH, EPR and CBAM, each with regulation, article and the date it was last verified.
Selling into several EU countries at once? Labelling and warnings must be right per country; that is in the labelling answer. Not sure which regimes land on your product? The product check names them in seven questions.
Trading with a company you have never met? The official register of every country in the world sits on one page, with a free company finder: check the counterparty before you ship; add the VAT and sanctions check in the same step.