Trade with Iceland
How you import from and export to Iceland.
The Free Trade Agreement between Iceland, the Principality of Liechtenstein, and the Kingdom of Norway and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
The UK signed a new Free Trade Agreement (“FTA”) with Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein on 8 July 2021.
The comprehensive FTA covers trade in goods, services, investment, and a range of other commitments designed to liberalise and support trade.
The FTA came into effect between the UK and Iceland on 1 September 2022 and entered into force on 1 February 2023.
Tariffs on goods
Tariff rates for bilateral trade in goods between the UK and Iceland apply as set out in the FTA. However, in some cases, the non-preferential applied rates may in fact be lower because of changes in the UK’s Most Favoured Nation tariff schedule.
You can use online tools ’Look up tariffs, taxes and rules to trade with the UK’ and ‘Check duties and customs procedures for exporting goods’ to check product-specific and country-specific information on tariffs and regulations that currently apply to UK trade in goods. These tools are regularly updated to reflect any changes.
Tariff rate quotas
The tariff rate quotas for agriculture and fisheries products have been tailored specifically to reflect the UK’s actual trade with Iceland.
To find out the tariff rate quotas, see Annexes II and IV of the FTA
If you want to take advantage of tariff rate quotas when exporting from the UK to Iceland, please liaise with importer contacts in Iceland.
Some of the tariff rate quotas are seasonal – the duty and volume available will depend on the month of export and import between the UK and Iceland.
Technical Barriers to Trade
The FTA chapter on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) includes provisions which address regulatory barriers to trade in goods. The TBT chapter covers technical products regulations and standards, as well as conformity assessment procedures (which includes activities such as testing, inspection and certification of products). The agreement also includes the following sector-specific annexes which seek to promote cooperation and tackle barriers to trade:
-
motor vehicles, equipment and parts
- medicinal products
- chemicals
- organic products
- wine sectors
Rules of origin
Finding the correct rule of origin for export
Depending on the type of good you are seeking to export, in order to claim preferential treatment, it will need to qualify as originating, for example be wholly obtained or sufficiently processed in the UK.
To be considered sufficiently processed your good will need to meet the relevant product specific rule (PSR). The PSRs for this agreement use the 2017 version of the Harmonised System (HS) nomenclature. You should apply the PSR for your good using the code in which it was classified under this nomenclature.
Claiming preferential rates for your exports from the UK
As an importer, you must declare that you hold proof your goods comply with the rules of origin to benefit from preferential tariffs when:
- importing into the UK from Iceland
- importing into Iceland from the UK
Entitlement to preferential tariffs is based on an origin declaration issued by the exporter. Your declaration on origin can be in electronic format (for example, emails and PDFs). As a UK exporter, you can issue an origin declaration without having all the necessary information on origin.
UK exporters should be:
- confident that the origin of goods is correct
- able to follow record keeping requirements
- prepared to provide the necessary information upon request
Origin Declaration
The origin declaration can be found in Appendix 4 to the Annex on Rules of Origin (Annex 1) in the FTA. The origin declaration must use the following wording:
The exporter of the products covered by this document (customs authorisation No … (1)) declares that, except where otherwise clearly indicated, these products are of … (2) preferential origin. … (3) (Place and date) … (4) (Signature of the exporter, in addition the name of the person signing the declaration has to be indicated in clear script).
Notes
(1) When the origin declaration is made out by an approved exporter, the authorisation number of the approved exporter must be entered in this space. When the origin declaration is not made out by an approved exporter, the words in brackets shall be omitted or the space left blank.
(2) Origin of products to be indicated (ISO-Alpha-2 code is permitted). Reference may be made to a specific column of the invoice in which the country of origin of each product is entered.
(3) These indications may be omitted if the information is contained on the document itself.
(4) In cases where the exporter is not required to sign, the exemption of signature also implies the exemption of the name of the signatory.
Using EU materials and processing in your exports to Iceland
You can use EU materials or processing in your exports to Iceland. You must also ensure the working or processing you do in the UK goes beyond the insufficient operations in the FTA, and that the other relevant conditions are met.
For example, you cannot simply package or label a product from the EU and export it to Iceland as a good originating in the UK.
See the list of insufficient operations in Article 7 of Annex I on Rules of Origin to the FTA.
The ability to consider materials from, or processing carried out in, another country as originating when incorporated into your product is called cumulation.
Using materials and/or processing from other countries in your exports to Iceland
If both the UK and Iceland has a trade agreement with one of the other countries listed in Appendix 3 to Annex I on the Rules of Origin in the FTA, you can use materials, and in some cases, processing from that country in your exports to Iceland. You must ensure that the working or processing you do in the UK goes beyond the insufficient operations listed in Article 7 of Annex I on Rules of Origin in the FTA, and that the other relevant conditions are fulfilled.
Sending your goods to Iceland through the EU and other countries
To benefit from preferential treatment, goods exported from the UK to Norway must not be altered or transformed in any way during transit through other countries. However, a limited number of operations such as the adding or affixing of marks, labels and seals, or operations designed to preserve them in good condition, may be undertaken provided this takes place under customs supervision. Consignments may also be stored or split when in transit through other countries, again provided this takes place under customs supervision.
Geographical indications
The FTA includes geographical indications (GIs) protection for food, drink and agricultural products.
Customs and trade facilitation
The FTA chapter on Customs and Trade Facilitation ensures that customs procedures in Iceland are transparent, efficient and consistent, reduce barriers to trade, and reinforce the UK and Iceland’s ability to maintain effective customs control.
Commitments in this FTA give businesses – both in the UK and Iceland - greater certainty on customs clearance processes, and will minimise costs and administrative burdens while increasing predictability at the border.
Businesses can benefit from the UK and Iceland’s commitment to release goods within clear time frames to provide greater certainty for traders and reduce costs where possible. This means that if all requirements for release are met, goods will be released within 48 hours of arrival.
Trade in services and investment
The FTA includes provisions on services and investment. It commits the parties to granting preferential market access and fair treatment for service suppliers and investors, and provides a system for the mutual recognition of qualifications.
Find out more about selling services to Iceland.
Telecommunications
The FTA includes provisions on telecommunications. This includes aiming to facilitate surcharge-free international mobile roaming between the UK, Norway and Iceland by capping the rates operators charge each other.
Digital trade
The FTA includes provisions on digital trade aimed at supporting e-commerce, data flows and consumer safeguards between the UK and Iceland.
The measures within this section are targeted at:
-
prohibiting the application of customs duties to electronic transmissions and their contents
- facilitating the cross-border flow of data by prohibiting requirements to store or process data in a certain location
- upholding the UK’s robust data protection laws for individuals’ personal data when data is being transferred across borders
- protecting the legal effect, validity, and enforceability of an electronic contact and signatures against unjustified discrimination
- cooperating on the standardisation of electronic trade administration documents and taking into account developments in paperless trading principles and guidelines
- protecting consumers online by prohibiting fraudulent and deceptive commercial activities online
- protecting users from unsolicited commercial electronic messages (spam)
- upholding principles of ‘net neutrality’ by promoting open internet access, as a means of developing an open, secure and trustworthy online environment
- ensuring companies are protected by a guarantee against the forced transfer of source code, protecting valuable intellectual property
- promoting best practices and the use of risk-based approaches to addressing cybersecurity threats for businesses
- encouraging the release of anonymised government datasets where appropriate with a view to enhancing and generating business opportunities, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)
- cooperating on digital trade issues in future
Government procurement
The FTA includes a procurement chapter which guarantees rights for UK companies to be treated fairly and without discrimination when competing in the public procurements covered by the agreement.
Market access under the FTA is broad and goes further than the World Trade Organization’s Agreement on Government Procurement. It includes additional coverage of public procurement for education, legal and telecommunication services.
Notices and information for covered procurements for Iceland are published online and are accessible to UK businesses on Tenders Electronics Daily. The UK GREAT website also highlights public contract opportunities in Iceland.
Small and medium enterprises
The FTA contains an SME chapter that recognises the importance of SME trade and aims to enhance their potential.
Commitments to cooperate on SMEs mean that the UK and Iceland will, in the future, consider ways to increase trade and investment opportunities for SMEs.
Existing resources for SMEs:
- International Trade Advisers (ITAs) can support SMEs to build their exporting capability
- The Export Academy offer bespoke training programme and digital tools
- UK Export Finance helps to ensure no viable UK export fails for lack of finance or insurance
Next steps
Get further guidance on:
- exporting goods from the UK: step by step
- moving goods into, out of, or through Northern Ireland
- rules of origin between the UK and the EU
- using freight forwarders
Businesses can get specialist export help and support from great.gov.uk.
This guidance is for information only. You should consult your legal advisers if you wish to ensure you understand the legal implications of trading for your business.
Contact
If you have queries about trade, contact the Department for Business and Trade (DBT).
Updates to this page
Last updated 22 January 2024 + show all updates
-
Updates to various sections to bring the page into the present tense and reflect accurate advice.
-
Added guidance on finding the correct rule of origin for export.
-
First published.