Glossary

Tariff Suspension

Tariff suspension, also known as duty suspension, is a policy of temporarily reducing or eliminating import duties on specific products. This tariff reduction can be half or full and is implemented on a Most Favoured Nation (MNF) basis. Businesses can use iCustoms’ landed cost calculator to estimate savings when a tariff suspension applies to their goods.

Usually, these suspensions are implemented to tackle certain economic issues, such as interruptions in the supply chain.

Some requirements must be met by UK enterprises in order to be eligible for a tariff suspension. The criteria are:

  • Essential for further processing: The goods have to be used as components or raw materials in the company’s manufacturing process.
  • Not available in the EU: It is not possible to obtain the product from within the EU.
  • Economical: There is a minimum threshold (currently €15,000 a year) that the duty savings must surpass.
  • Domestically unproduced: The item or a similar product should not be manufactured in the United Kingdom or any of its Crown Dependencies.
  • Limited supply: The product’s manufacturing must be controlled, or its availability must be limited worldwide.