Customs Regulations on the Import of Masks in European Countries

One rule dominated European mask imports in 2020: no CE certificate, no commercial import — plus taxes of roughly 30–35 percent.

Required documents

• Air waybill or bill of lading
• Commercial invoice
• Copy of the CE certificate

CE certification is mandatory

In the EU, masks are classified as PPE (personal protective equipment). Since 2019 the new PPE Regulation (EU) 2016/425 has been enforced: all masks exported to the EU must obtain a CE certificate under the new regulation and the products must carry the printed CE mark. Without it, commercial imports are prohibited — the goods are returned or destroyed.

For imports into Italy, the importer additionally had to obtain an import license from the Italian Ministry of Health in advance.

United Kingdom

Although the UK had left the European Union, its mask-import requirements were the same in practice: a CE certificate for the product.

Personal imports without a CE certificate

• Commercial customs clearance without CE was not possible.
• Individuals importing small self-use quantities (not for sale) — typically up to 1,000 pieces sent by express — were generally not detained.

Taxes in Europe are high

Customs duty, excise and other taxes across European countries added up to roughly 30–35 percent of the goods value. No logistics mode — sea freight, air freight, DHL/FedEx/UPS/TNT, EMS, ePacket or China Post — exempts you from customs: every shipment is declared and recorded against the importer's annual total, and duty applies once the allowances are exceeded. Under-declaring invoice values to evade tax is risky: tax authorities can audit imports going back three years.

Fastest channel

For urgent mask shipments, air freight from China and DHL international express were the fastest and most reliable options; DHL lodged the import clearance application with European customs on the consignee's behalf. The masks still had to meet local quality requirements and the consignee paid the duty before final delivery.

Masks that met the European market

FFP2, FFP3 and N95 masks produced by factories qualified to export to European countries.

Spanish quantity limit

Under Spanish customs regulations, a single personal import shipment could contain a maximum of 50 masks.