EU Combined Nomenclature · CN code · HS 4820.20
4820 20 00: Registers, account books, notebooks, order books, receipt: exercise books
✓ Can be used in a customs declaration Data: EU Combined Nomenclature, in force from 1 January 2026 · checked on 22 October 2026
- 4820 Registers, account books, notebooks, order books, receipt books, letter pads, memorandum pads, diaries and similar articles, exercise books, blotting pads, binders (loose-leaf or other), folders, file covers, manifold business forms, interleaved carbon sets and other articles of stationery, of paper or paperboard; albums for samples or for collections and book covers, of paper or paperboard:
- 4820 20 00 Exercise books
What you pay
Importing into EU
Additional duties and import rules
Charges on top of the customs duty, and rules the goods must meet at the border.
Additional duties and charges 3
- Duty on low-value parcelsLow-value consignment customs duty 3 EUR
- Applies to goods from
- all countries
- In force
- until 31 October 2026
- Legal act
- Regulation 0382/26
- Duty on low-value parcelsLow-value consignment customs duty 3 EUR
- Applies to goods from
- all countries
- In force
- from 1 November 2026
- Legal act
- Regulation 0382/26
- Handling feeUnion handling fee 2 EUR
- Applies to goods from
- all countries
- In force
- from 1 November 2026
- Legal act
- Regulation 2108/26
- Documents
- Y126 Goods sold in distance sales
Import requirements 2
- Import control
- Applies to goods from
- Ukraine
- Legal act
- Regulation 0692/14
- Import control
- Applies to goods from
- Ukraine
- Legal act
- Regulation 0263/22
- Documents
- Y984 Goods not originating from or not destined for the non-government controlled areas of Ukraine in the oblasts of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia
- N954 Movement certificate EUR.1
- N864 Invoice declaration or origin declaration made out by any exporter on invoice or any other commercial document
Import VAT in the EU member states
The rate each member state applies to goods of this code, from the Commission’s Taxes in Europe Database. A reduced rate can cover only part of the goods under a code: check the national VAT law.
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Austria 20%
-
Belgium 21%
-
Bulgaria 20%
-
Croatia 25%
-
Cyprus 19%
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Czechia 21%
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Denmark 25%
-
Estonia 24%
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Finland 25.5%
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France 20%
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Germany 19%
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Greece 24%
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Hungary 27%
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Ireland 23%
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Italy 22%
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Latvia 21%
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Lithuania 21%
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Luxembourg 17%
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Malta 5% reduced rate
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Netherlands 21%
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Poland 23%
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Portugal 23%
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Romania 21%
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Slovakia 23%
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Slovenia 22%
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Spain 21%
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Sweden 25%
TEDB · 23 October 2026
EU: imports by month · HS 4820.20
Main suppliers, last 12 months
| Country | Value | Share | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| €46.1m | 69.3% | -9.3% | |
| €8.7m | 13% | -1.2% | |
| €2.5m | 3.8% | -6.9% | |
| €1.7m | 2.6% | -22.9% | |
| €1.4m | 2.2% | +7.2% | |
| €1m | 1.5% | +0.9% | |
| €882k | 1.3% | -13.7% | |
| €828k | 1.2% | -45.8% |
Same subheading in other tariffs
4820.20 Registers, account books, notebooks, order books, receipt: exercise books
Legal notes
Notes
1. For the purposes of this chapter, except where the context otherwise requires, a reference to ‘paper’ includes references to paperboard (irrespective of thickness or weight per m2).
2. This chapter does not cover:
(a) articles of Chapter 30;
(b) stamping foils of heading 3212;
(c) perfumed papers or papers impregnated or coated with cosmetics (Chapter 33);
(d) paper or cellulose wadding impregnated, coated or covered with soap or detergent (heading 3401) or with polishes, creams or similar preparations (heading 3405);
(e) sensitised paper or paperboard of headings 3701 to 3704;
(f) paper impregnated with diagnostic or laboratory reagents (heading 3822);
(g) paper-reinforced stratified sheeting of plastics, or one layer of paper or paperboard coated or covered with a layer of plastics, the latter constituting more than half the total thickness, or articles of such materials, other than wallcoverings of heading 4814 (Chapter 39);
(h) articles of heading 4202 (for example, travel goods);
(ij) articles of Chapter 46 (manufactures of plaiting material);
(k) paper yarn or textile articles of paper yarn (Section XI);
(l) articles of Chapter 64 or 65;
(m) abrasive paper or paperboard (heading 6805) or paper- or paperboard-backed mica (heading 6814) (paper and paperboard coated with mica powder are, however, to be classified in this chapter);
(n) metal foil backed with paper or paperboard (generally Section XIV or XV);
(o) articles of heading 9209;
(p) articles of Chapter 95 (for example, toys, games, sports requisites); or
(q) articles of Chapter 96 (for example, buttons, sanitary towels (pads) and tampons, napkins (diapers) and napkin liners).
3. Subject to the provisions of note 7, headings 4801 to 4805 include paper and paperboard which have been subjected to calendering, supercalendering, glazing or similar finishing, false watermarking or surface sizing, and also paper, paperboard, cellulose wadding and webs of cellulose fibres, coloured or marbled throughout the mass by any method. Except where heading 4803 otherwise requires, these headings do not apply to paper, paperboard, cellulose wadding or webs of cellulose fibres which have been otherwise processed.
4. In this chapter, the expression ‘newsprint’ means uncoated paper of a kind used for the printing of newspapers, of which not less than 50 % by weight of the total fibre content consists of wood fibres obtained by a mechanical or chemi-mechanical process, unsized or very lightly sized, having a surface roughness Parker Print Surf (1 MPa) on each side exceeding 2,5 micrometres (microns), weighing not less than 40 g/m2 and not more than 65 g/m2 and applies only to paper: (a) in strips or rolls of a width exceeding 28 cm; or (b) in rectangular (including square) sheets with one side exceeding 28 cm and the other side exceeding 15 cm in the unfolded state.
5. For the purposes of heading 4802, the expressions ‘paper and paperboard, of a kind used for writing, printing or other graphic purposes’ and ‘non-perforated punch-cards and punch tape paper’ mean paper and paperboard made mainly from bleached pulp or from pulp obtained by a mechanical or chemi-mechanical process and satisfying any of the following criteria:
A. For paper or paperboard weighing not more than 150 g/m2 :
(a) containing 10 % or more of fibres obtained by a mechanical or chemi-mechanical process, and
(1) weighing not more than 80 g/m2; or
(2) coloured throughout the mass; or
(b) containing more than 8 % ash, and
(1) weighing not more than 80 g/m2; or
(2) coloured throughout the mass; or
(c) Containing more than 3 % ash and having a brightness of 60 % or more; or
(d) containing more than 3 % but not more than 8 % ash, having a brightness less than 60 %, and a burst index equal to or less than 2,5 kPa·m2/g; or
(e) containing 3 % ash or less, having a brightness of 60 % or more and a burst index equal to or less than 2,5 kPa·m2/g.
B. For paper or paperboard weighing more than 150 g/m2 :
(a) coloured throughout the mass; or
(b) having a brightness of 60 % or more, and
(1) a caliper of 225 micrometres (microns) or less; or
(2) a caliper of more than 225 micrometres (microns) but not more than 508 micrometres (microns) and an ash content of more than 3 %; or
(c) having a brightness of less than 60 %, a caliper of 254 micrometres (microns) or less and an ash content of more than 8 %.
Heading 4802 does not, however, cover filter paper or paperboard (including tea-bag paper) or felt paper or paperboard.
6. In this chapter, ‘kraft paper and paperboard’ means paper and paperboard of which not less than 80 % by weight of the total fibre content consists of fibres obtained by the chemical sulphate or soda processes.
7. Except where the terms of the headings otherwise require, paper, paperboard, cellulose wadding and webs of cellulose fibres answering to a description in two or more of the headings 4801 to 4811 are to be classified under that one of such headings which occurs last in numerical order in the nomenclature.
8. Headings 4803 to 4809 apply only to paper, paperboard, cellulose wadding and webs of cellulose fibres:
(a) in strips or rolls of a width exceeding 36 cm; or
(b) in rectangular (including square) sheets with one side exceeding 36 cm and the other side exceeding 15 cm in the unfolded state.
9. For the purposes of heading 4814, the expression ‘wallpaper and similar wallcoverings’ applies only to:
(a) paper in rolls, of a width of not less than 45 cm and not more than 160 cm, suitable for wall or ceiling decoration:
(1) grained, embossed, surface-coloured, design-printed or otherwise surface-decorated (for example, with textile flock), whether or not coated or covered with transparent protective plastics;
(2) with an uneven surface resulting from the incorporation of particles of wood, straw, etc.;
(3) coated or covered on the face side with plastics, the layer of plastics being grained, embossed, coloured, design-printed or otherwise decorated; or
(4) covered on the face side with plaiting material, whether or not bound together in parallel strands or woven;
(b) borders and friezes, of paper, treated as above, whether or not in rolls, suitable for wall or ceiling decoration;
(c) wallcoverings of paper made up of several panels, in rolls or sheets, printed so as to make up a scene, design or motif when applied to a wall.
Products on a base of paper or paperboard, suitable for use both as floor coverings and as wallcoverings, are to be classified in heading 4823.
10. Heading 4820 does not cover loose sheets or cards, cut to size, whether or not printed, embossed or perforated.
11. Heading 4823 applies, inter alia, to perforated paper or paperboard cards for jacquard or similar machines and paper lace.
12. Except for the goods of heading 4814 or 4821, paper, paperboard, cellulose wadding and articles thereof, printed with motifs, characters or pictorial representations, which are not merely subsidiary to the primary use of the goods, fall in Chapter 49.
CN Explanatory Notes
The European Commission's explanatory notes on how to classify goods in these CN codes. They are not legally binding but customs authorities follow them; they complement the HS Explanatory Notes of the World Customs Organization.
General notes to the chapter
PAPER AND PAPERBOARD; ARTICLES OF PAPER PULP, OF PAPER OR OF PAPERBOARD
General
Rolls of paper, the outer layers of which have been partially soaked in water or otherwise damaged, remain classified in the appropriate subheading of headings 4801 to 4811.
Explanatory Notes to the Combined Nomenclature of the European Union, Official Journal C (consolidated text and later amendments) · © European Union
This line in earlier years
The Combined Nomenclature of each year, as published in the Official Journal: description, third-country duty and supplementary unit.
| Year | Description | Third-country duty | Supplementary unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Exercise books | Free | — |
| 2025 | unchanged | Free | — |
| 2024 | unchanged | Free | — |
| 2023 | unchanged | Free | — |
| 2022 | unchanged | Free | — |
| 2021 | unchanged | Free | — |
| 2020 | unchanged | Free | — |
| 2019 | Exercise books | Free | — |
CN code 4820 20 00 is a line of the EU Combined Nomenclature under HS subheading 4820.20 (registers, account books, notebooks, order books, receipt: exercise books).
The third-country duty is free, and quantities are declared in —.
Imports of goods of subheading 4820.20 into the EU came to €66.5m between September 2025 and August 2026 (down 8% on the year before); China supplied 69%, followed by Tunisia.
For the same subheading, the UK duty is free, the Türkiye duty is free and the US duty is free.
EU member states imported goods of subheading 4820.20 worth US$172.1m in 2024; the largest supplier from outside the EU was China.
Questions and answers
What is the EU import duty for CN code 4820 20 00?
The third-country duty in the EU Combined Nomenclature is free; the supplementary unit is —. Preferential rates for goods from agreement countries, anti-dumping duties and VAT are not included.
Where does the EU import these goods from?
For subheading 4820.20 as a whole, the largest supplier from outside the EU in 2024 was China (US$49.8m), followed by Tunisia.