Since 26 June 2018. Yachts built in the US imported into the EU were required to pay in addition to the VAT on the hull a 25% Custom’s Duty in the country of import. The European Commission adopted that measure by implementing Regulation EU 2018/886, as a direct response to Trump’s trade policy on EU exports to the US.


However after the suspension by the new US administration, late 2021 of the previous safeguard measures imposed the EU Commission adopted the Regulation No 2021/2083 in November 2020 whereby the 25% duty is suspended from January 1st, 2021 until December 31,2021.


The suspension of the retaliatory tariffs comes as welcome news to American boat builders, who have long been subject to these punitive tariffs.


In short this means that new yachts built in the US or yachts that have never been formally importer before, will be able to be imported to the EU this year without the need to pay the 25% duty from 1 january 2022.


This is definitive good news, both for the US and EU yachting industry. In any event it is strongly advised to verify the particular situation of each vessel before import into the EU to make sure that all the boxes are ticked to be eligible for suspension or exemption of these duties.