Before requesting an EU EORI
EORI for businesses with no EU establishment
Start with where your business is established and what customs act it will carry out. The country buying your goods and the country handling that act may be different.
Follow the three decisions ↓Sources reviewed 31 October 2026 · EU customs territory · registration preparation
Establishment → first operation → authority
Confirm establishment
A non-EU head office does not settle this question. Confirm whether the business has an establishment in the EU customs territory. This guide’s first-operation route applies to operators with no EU establishment; ask the authority if your position is unclear.
Identify the first customs operation
The Commission directs operators with no EU establishment to the EU country where they intend to carry out their first customs operation: for example, lodge a declaration or apply for a decision. Record the intended act and country with your customs representative.
Contact the registering authority
Use the Commission’s authority directory for that country and confirm its procedure and required evidence. A delivery address, customer location or port named on a booking is not enough by itself to establish which authority should register you.
The Commission lists customs declarations, entry and exit summary declarations, temporary-storage declarations and acting as a carrier among activities relevant to non-established operators. Confirm your actual role; selling goods to an EU customer does not, by itself, describe who lodges the declaration.
Read the Commission’s EORI guidance · Find an EORI registering authority
Fictional planning example · no EORI queried
A US seller, a German customs act, a Dutch customer
Assume a business established only in the United States, with no EU establishment and no existing EORI, intends to lodge its first EU customs declaration in Germany. Its customer receives the goods in the Netherlands. Under the Commission’s stated route, the first customs operation points it to the German registering authority, rather than choosing the Netherlands solely because the buyer is there.
- Business establishment
- United States
- Confirm there is no EU establishment.
- Intended first customs act
- Germany
- Confirm the act and registration procedure.
- Customer destination
- Netherlands
- Does not decide the authority on its own.
These are assumed facts, not a shipment recommendation or a finding about a real business. If the first act, establishment or declarant differs, confirm the route again with the authority.
Trade context: scale does not decide registration
Eurostat’s 2025 goods data puts these cross-border situations in context. A country’s trade share does not decide who needs an EORI or where a particular business must register.
- National · Germany
- 18.8%
- Germany’s share of the EU’s imports of goods from outside the EU in 2025. Not a share of EORI registrations.
- Regional · EU-27
- €2,532,055.9m
- 2025 imports from outside the EU-27, total goods, current EUR millions. API series updated 16 October 2026.
- External origins · China / US
- 22.3% / 14.1%
- Shares of EU imports of goods from outside the EU in 2025, by origin. These two origins are not worldwide registry coverage.
Source: Eurostat / European Commission. The International trade in goods article supplies the country shares (data extracted March 2026). The ext_lt_intertrd API supplies the regional value (October 2026 revision). Different source cuts are shown separately; consulted 31 October 2026. Values measure goods trade, not customers, checks or demand for EORICheck.
Write down these facts before contacting the authority
- The business’s legal name, country of establishment and whether it has any EU establishment.
- The intended first customs operation, country, responsible declarant and representative’s role.
- Any EORI already assigned. The Commission states that a person can hold only one valid EORI at a time; do not request a new one simply because the customer changes country.
- The registering authority’s own current application instructions and requested documents. This planning list is not an official application checklist.
Already have the number? Check the register next
EORICheck checks numbers; it does not register a business or decide its customs role. Once assigned, keep the full number, source and check date with your documents. Validation does not prove who sent a number, authorise a shipment or replace customs clearance.
This guide addresses the EU customs territory. GB and XI have distinct routes: use the existing GB/XI guide. EORICheck is independent of customs authorities.