Dealer guide
Dealers in the EU sometimes ask us to add hand pallet trucks to a container of electric trucks. We usually advise against it. Hand pallet trucks made in China carry an EU anti-dumping duty of 70.8% for almost every Chinese maker, on top of normal customs duty and VAT. Electric pallet trucks and stackers do not.
The line between the two is drawn by a legal definition, and it is worth knowing exactly where it runs before you plan a range. This guide summarises what the measure covers, what it leaves out and where the grey areas are, based on Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/670.
The measure in brief
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Products | Hand pallet trucks, and their main parts: chassis and hydraulics |
| Origin | People’s Republic of China |
| Codes | CN ex 8427 90 00 (TARIC 8427 90 00 19) and ex 8431 20 00 (TARIC 8431 20 00 19) |
| Duty rate | 70.8% for all companies, except one exporter with an individual rate of 54.1% |
| Legal act | Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/670 of 26 February 2024, published in the Official Journal on 27 February 2024 |
The regulation followed an expiry review, which is how the EU decides whether a measure that is about to end should continue. It did.
How the duty is charged
The anti-dumping duty is a percentage of the net, free-at-Union-frontier price, before duty: in plain terms, the price of the goods delivered to the EU border. At 70.8%, every 100 euros of hand pallet trucks at the border attracts 70.80 euros of anti-dumping duty.
That comes on top of the normal customs duty, and import VAT is then charged as usual. Once all of it is added up, a hand pallet truck from China costs far more in the EU than its factory price suggests, and that is the point of the measure.
A measure with a long history
- 2005: anti-dumping duties first imposed on hand pallet trucks from China, at rates between 7.6% and 46.7%.
- 2009: extended to hand pallet trucks consigned from Thailand, to stop the duty being avoided by routing the trucks through another country.
- 2013: the 70.8% rate for China.
- 2016: extended to slightly modified trucks fitted with a weighing system that is not integrated in the chassis.
- February 2024: renewed again after an expiry review.
Anti-dumping measures normally last five years, so unless the measure is reviewed it runs for five years from February 2024. Given the history, nobody in the trade plans on it disappearing.
What counts as a hand pallet truck
Article 1(2) of the regulation defines the product. In short, these are trucks with lifting fork arms for handling pallets, “designed to be manually pushed, pulled and steered” on smooth, level, hard floors “by a pedestrian operator using an articulated tiller”.
The definition adds that the truck is only designed to raise a load, by pumping the tiller, to a height sufficient for transporting it. Trucks with other functions are outside it, and the regulation names four: high lifters, stackers, scissor lifts and weighing trucks.
In practice, two questions settle most cases: is the truck moved by hand, and does it only lift high enough to travel?
What the measure does not cover
- Electric pallet trucks. Their travel is powered by a motor; they are not manually pushed and pulled. They normally fall under CN 8427 10, self-propelled trucks powered by an electric motor, a different heading from hand pallet trucks.
- Stackers, manual or electric, which lift to racking height.
- High lifters.
- Scissor lift tables.
- Weighing trucks. Note the 2016 extension, though: a hand pallet truck with a weighing system added that is not integrated in the chassis is still caught.
Normal customs duty and VAT still apply to all of these. What they do not carry is the anti-dumping duty.
Grey areas to check before you order
Semi-electric pallet trucks. Some trucks are pushed by hand but lift electrically. The definition covers trucks designed only to raise a load by pumping the tiller, which points one way; the manual travel points the other. How customs treats such a truck should be confirmed before you order, ideally with a binding tariff information (BTI) decision from the customs authority in your country.
Spare parts. The measure covers the chassis and the hydraulics of hand pallet trucks as well as complete trucks. Importing hand pallet truck chassis or hydraulic units from China as spare parts is therefore caught by the same duty.
Routing through another country. Since 2009 the duty also applies to hand pallet trucks consigned from Thailand. Shipping Chinese trucks via a third country does not change their origin.
What this means for an EU dealer
With a 70.8% duty, hand pallet trucks from China are not competitive in the EU. EU dealers source them from elsewhere or from within the EU, and buy electric pallet trucks and stackers from China. Electric trucks are where Chinese factories compete in Europe.
That is how we work too. For EU customers we focus on electric pallet trucks and stackers, such as the compact lithium SL15L3 and SL20L3. Our BF hand pallet truck we sell to customers outside the EU.
If you are replacing hand pallet trucks in a range, our electric pallet truck buyer’s guide explains the choices, and importing warehouse equipment from China covers containers, lead times and spare parts.
This is a summary for buyers, not legal advice. Rates and scope can change; check the current TARIC entry with your customs broker before you order.
To plan a container of electric pallet trucks and stackers for the EU market, contact us with your models and destination port.
Source: Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/670 (EUR-Lex).