Norwegian exporters and the EU: your own Dutch importer
Norway is part of the European Economic Area (EEA), yet it remains outside the EU customs union and the EU VAT area, so every shipment from Norway to an EU customer is an import, with a customs declaration and import VAT. Since 1 July 2026 EU customs has charged a €3 duty on each item type in a parcel sent to a consumer, and from 1 November 2026 Dutch Customs adds a €2 fee. From 2027 Norway also applies the EU carbon border rules itself. A Dutch private limited company (BV) of your own can import in bulk, outside both parcel charges, and act as seller and employer inside the EU.
Ask about your situationIndustrial goods of EEA origin enter the EU free of duty, while fish pays a reduced duty per species under Protocol 9 of the EEA Agreement or enters duty-free within a quota, and import VAT is due in every case. A Norwegian web shop selling to EU consumers has paid a flat €3 duty per item type on parcels up to €150 since 1 July 2026, and from 1 November 2026 it also pays a €2 handling fee per declaration line, plus VAT. Norway is, however, the one country outside the EU whose sellers may use the EU import VAT scheme for parcels, the import one stop shop (IOSS), on their own, provided they ship only from Norway.
A Dutch company of your own imports your goods in one bulk shipment and declares them in its own name under its own customs registration number (EORI). A permit from the Dutch tax office lets it book the import VAT in its own VAT return (the Article 23 licence), so the goods clear customs sooner, and it then sells from Dutch stock to consumers across the EU, reporting the VAT of all those countries in a single return through the EU one stop shop (OSS). The same company can serve as the responsible person in the EU under the product safety rules, as the registered importer (authorised declarant) under the EU carbon border rules (CBAM) where your group imports steel, aluminium or fertiliser from outside the EEA, and as the employer of your EU staff. Your Dutch company (BV) costs from €2,950 excl. VAT.
Tell us what you make or sell, where your company is and what you plan in Europe. Our team looks at it and replies with the steps and the dates that apply to you.
Who does what
We set up and manage your Dutch company, and you have one contact person for all of it. Partners for customs, cold storage and fulfilment are chosen per assignment, and you see each price first.
Your company
- Your Norwegian company, your products and your EU customers
- The choice between parcels from Norway and stock in the Netherlands
- The proof of origin from Norway and your Norwegian returns
The Dutch company
- Your Dutch company, set up by power of attorney with the notary
- Customs number (EORI), VAT number, the Article 23 application and the OSS registration
- Bookkeeping, VAT returns, payroll and annual accounts
- The CBAM authorisation where your group imports CBAM goods from outside the EEA
Customs, storage, fulfilment
- Customs broker for the import declarations and the origin claim
- Cold store or warehouse and fulfilment in the Netherlands
- Food safety consultant for labels and registrations where needed
Step by step
From a Norwegian exporter with EU customers to a Dutch company that imports, sells and employs.
- Your plan. You share your products, your EU volumes, your terms of delivery and your staff plans. Our team replies with the route that suits you and a quote.
- Your Dutch company. The notary sets up the BV by power of attorney once all documents are complete.
- The numbers. Customs number (EORI), VAT number, the Article 23 application and the OSS registration.
- The first import. The customs broker declares the shipment for your Dutch company, with the proof of origin from your Norwegian company.
- Sales and people. EU invoices from your Dutch company, the OSS return each quarter, and payroll for your EU staff.
Product group, EU rule, and what your Dutch company does
| Product group | EU rule at the border | What your Dutch company does |
|---|---|---|
| Seafood: salmon, cod, herring | Protocol 9 of the EEA Agreement: reduced duty per species, free of any quota limit, with origin declared as "EEA". Duty-free quotas under the fisheries letter of 1973 and the compensation agreements, with origin declared as "Norway". Food and veterinary rules are fully harmonised within the EEA. Import VAT at the EU border. | Importer with EORI and the Article 23 licence, so the import VAT goes into the VAT return. Owner of the EU stock in a cold store near Rotterdam or Vlissingen. Seller to processors and retail chains in the EU with Dutch invoices. The Netherlands is a processing market, so your company sells to the processors directly. |
| Consumer brands: outdoor wear, design, food specialities | Parcels from Norway to EU consumers: €3 duty per item type on consignments up to €150 since 1 July 2026 (Regulation (EU) 2026/382, until 1 July 2028), €2 handling fee per declaration line from 1 November 2026 at any value, VAT of the customer’s country. IOSS available to you on your own, free of an intermediary, when you ship only from Norway. The EU product safety rules (General Product Safety Regulation, GPSR) require a responsible economic operator in the EU. | Imports in bulk, free of the €3 duty and the €2 fee, and ships from Dutch stock as EU sales. Files one quarterly OSS return for the VAT of all EU countries. Is the responsible economic operator with its name and address on the product. Keeps the customer contracts and handles the returns. |
| Oil and gas services, offshore equipment | Equipment of EEA origin enters the EU free of duty with proof of origin; equipment of other origin pays the duty of that origin. A company that serves EU customers with EU staff is an EU employer and, above the thresholds, has a taxable branch in the EU (permanent establishment). | Contract partner for EU customers, importer of the equipment, employer of engineers in the EU with Dutch payroll, and the company for tenders that ask for a bidder established in the EU. |
| Aluminium, steel, fertiliser, hydrogen | Goods of EEA origin are outside the EU carbon border mechanism (CBAM). From 2027 Norway and Iceland apply CBAM themselves to imports from outside the EEA (EEA Joint Committee decision of 25 September 2026). An EU importer of such goods from outside the EEA needs authorised declarant status. | Where your group brings steel, aluminium or fertiliser from outside the EEA into the EU, the Dutch company is the importer and the authorised CBAM declarant. See CBAM authorised declarant in the Netherlands. |
| Software and online services | VAT of the customer’s country on sales to EU consumers. On sales to EU businesses the customer reports the VAT (reverse charge). | Seller with a Dutch VAT number and the OSS for consumer sales, and the EU employer for your sales and support staff. |
See EU parcel rules 2026 for the parcel charges per item type, and EU importer for distance sales for the 2028 rule that makes the seller or the platform the importer of each parcel.
Norway in the EEA, with free movement of goods and a customs border
The EEA Agreement gives Norway the free movement of goods, services, people and capital within the EU single market, but leaves out the customs union, the common trade policy, the common agriculture and fisheries policies, and taxation. In practice your goods meet EU product rules in Norway, while at the EU border the importer files a customs declaration, proves the origin and pays import VAT. The duty on industrial goods of EEA origin is zero, Protocol 9 sets a reduced duty per species for fish, and the quotas of the fisheries letter of 1973 and the compensation agreements give duty-free access up to their volume. Because food and veterinary legislation is fully harmonised within the EEA, the health rules are the same on both sides of the border.
Every Norwegian exporter therefore has to decide who files that declaration and who pays the import VAT. A Norwegian company can do it from Norway, with a customs agent and a VAT registration in the country of import, or your own Dutch company can do it as the importer, in its own name, and sell the goods onwards as an EU company. With a Dutch company your customers get an EU supplier, an EU invoice and EU terms of delivery.
Tell us what you make or sell, where your company is and what you plan in Europe. Our team looks at it and replies with the steps and the dates that apply to you.
Web shops, with parcels from Norway or with stock in the Netherlands
Since 1 July 2026 every parcel from outside the EU to an EU consumer with a value up to €150 pays a flat customs duty of €3 per item type, whatever the VAT scheme and whatever the origin (Council Regulation (EU) 2026/382, until 1 July 2028). Five sweaters of one kind pay €3, and a sweater and a cap pay €6. Goods with preferential origin stay outside the €3 duty only with a standard customs declaration and VAT paid outside IOSS. From 1 November 2026 Dutch Customs adds a handling fee of €2 per declaration line on every e-commerce parcel from outside the EU delivered directly to a consumer, at any value, plus VAT on the fee.
Norwegian sellers have an advantage on VAT, because the EU and Norway have had an agreement on VAT cooperation since 1 September 2018. A seller established in Norway that ships only from Norway may register for IOSS in any EU country on its own, free of an EU intermediary, although a seller that also ships from China or from a warehouse outside Norway needs the intermediary again.
A Dutch company of your own can keep stock in the Netherlands, bring it in with one bulk shipment and one customs declaration, and report the import VAT in its own VAT return. From then on it sells as an EU company, with delivery within days, returns to a Dutch address and one OSS return for the VAT of all EU countries. Because the €3 duty and the €2 fee apply to parcels sent to consumers from outside the EU, a bulk import by your Dutch company falls outside both. See importer of record in the EU.
Seafood, with the Netherlands as processing market and port of entry
Norway exported 2.8 million tonnes of seafood worth NOK 181.5 billion in 2025, a record, with salmon at NOK 124.7 billion. The Netherlands was the fifth market with NOK 10.8 billion and the second market for fresh cod. The Norwegian Seafood Council describes it as mainly a processing market, which means fish comes into the Netherlands, is processed and goes on to other EU countries.
Norwegian exporters can sell to Dutch processors and importers on Norwegian terms, with the processor acting as importer, or set up a Dutch company of their own that imports the fish, pays the duty per species or uses the quota, books the import VAT under Article 23 and sells to processors and retail chains in the Netherlands, Germany, France and Belgium as an EU supplier. A company of your own keeps the margin on the EU sale within your group and gives retail chains the EU contracting party they ask for.
A customs broker files the customs declaration itself, and your Norwegian company provides the declaration of origin ("EEA" under Protocol 9, "Norway" under a quota). Your Dutch company gives the broker its EORI number and its Article 23 licence.
CBAM from 2027, when Norway applies the carbon border rules itself
On 25 September 2026 the EEA Joint Committee brought the EU carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) into the EEA Agreement. Norway and Iceland apply CBAM to cement, electricity, fertiliser, iron and steel, aluminium and hydrogen imported from outside the EEA, and Liechtenstein is excluded. The Norwegian government aims at full application from 2027. The Norwegian parliament (Storting) approved the incorporation in June 2026, and the Icelandic parliament still has to approve. Importers in Norway apply for authorisation with the Norwegian Tax Administration in the CBAM registry, and an importer who files before 31 March 2027 may continue importing until the decision.
Your goods of EEA origin are outside CBAM at the EU border, so for a Norwegian group CBAM matters in the other direction. Where your group buys steel, aluminium or fertiliser from outside the EEA and brings it into the EU, the EU importer needs authorised declarant status, and the EU deadline of 31 March 2026 has passed. A Dutch company in your group can be that importer and declarant. See CBAM authorised declarant in the Netherlands.
One Dutch company, many roles
The same Dutch company acts as importer at EU customs under its own customs number (EORI), declaring in its own name through a customs broker. Its Article 23 licence lets it declare and deduct the import VAT in the same VAT return, and while a business established in the Netherlands applies for that licence itself, a Norwegian company can obtain it only through a Dutch party that handles the VAT for a foreign company, known as a fiscal representative. See fiscal representation in the Netherlands.
The company sells within the EU with a Dutch VAT number and the OSS for consumers in all EU countries, and from 1 July 2028 it also serves as importer for distance sales. Under the EU product safety rules (General Product Safety Regulation, GPSR) it is the responsible economic operator, with its name and address on your products, and where your group imports CBAM goods from outside the EEA into the EU it is the authorised CBAM declarant. It also employs your sales, service and logistics staff in the EU, with Dutch payroll and, where the conditions are met, the 27% expat scheme from 2027.
Dutch corporate tax is 19% on profit up to €200,000 and 25.8% above that (2026). The company, the address and the directors are yours, and Holdwise sets up and manages the company while the ownership remains entirely with you. Your Dutch company (BV) costs from €2,950 excl. VAT, and a holding with an operating company from €4,950 excl. VAT. Customs, cold store and fulfilment work by partners has its own price, which you see first.
Sources
- EFTA, EEA Agreement: basic features, which says the Agreement leaves out the customs union, the common trade policy, direct and indirect taxation and the common agriculture and fisheries policies; EFTA, agriculture, fisheries and food safety, with fish under Protocol 9, food and veterinary legislation fully harmonised within the EEA.
- Norwegian Customs (Tolletaten), export of fish to the EU, with Protocol 9, the fisheries letter of 1973, compensation agreements, GATT quotas, origin "Norway" or "EEA".
- European Commission, guidance on the temporary €3 duty on low-value imports (8 June 2026, updated 20 July 2026), per item, whatever the VAT scheme or origin, until 1 July 2028, Council Regulation (EU) 2026/382.
- Dutch Customs, handling fee for e-commerce (updated 22 October 2026), with €2 per declaration line from 1 November 2026, also above €150, VAT on the fee.
- European Commission, register to the one stop shop, which says a seller established in a third country with a VAT mutual assistance agreement who ships only from that country may use IOSS on its own, free of an intermediary, with Norway as the example; VAT cooperation with Norway, agreement in force since 1 September 2018, amended 1 August 2025; Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2021/942 (10 June 2021).
- Norwegian Government (Regjeringen), CBAM becomes part of the EEA Agreement (25 September 2026); Council of the EU, draft EEA Joint Committee Decision on CBAM (2 July 2026), with Annex XX, Liechtenstein excluded, authorisation deadline 31 March 2027 for EFTA importers, general application 1 January 2027.
- Norwegian Seafood Council, record value for Norwegian seafood exports in 2025 (6 January 2026), with NOK 181.5 billion, the Netherlands fifth with NOK 10.8 billion.
- Dutch Tax Administration, Article 23 (2026) and corporate tax rates (2026).
Last reviewed: 27 October 2026. Based on the official pages named under Sources, as they read on that date. The CBAM dates for Norway and Iceland follow the EEA Joint Committee decision of 25 September 2026 and the Norwegian government’s stated aim of full application from 2027.
What we arrange beyond the company
Once your Dutch company is set up, we can help you with more. When you win a Dutch defence order, the government asks you to place part of the work with Dutch companies, and we find those companies for you. We prepare subsidy applications for your company, such as the Dutch subsidy for renewable energy and climate projects (SDE++) and the tax credit for research and development (WBSO). We help you buy a Dutch contractor or supplier, and we arrange export credit insurance and project finance with the banks.
We agree every fee with you first and link it to the result. For a project that deserves it, we join as co-founder and take a share of 5 to 10% in the project company.
Common questions
Want our team to have a look?
Tell us what your Norwegian company exports, which EU countries you sell in and whether you ship parcels or pallets, and our team replies with advice on the route and the set-up.
Related guides
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