Product identifiers for EU parcels, from your Sage stock codes

Since 1 July 2026 the EU has been phasing in its customs reform, and from 1 November 2026 every business-to-consumer parcel of €150 or less going into the EU must carry a product identifier for each item it contains. Customs use the identifier to check what is in the parcel against the retailer’s own catalogue. A parcel without one can be held at the border or sent back to you.

Carriers are setting out how they want the identifiers sent, typically as a short coded string in each item’s customs data listing your own reference for the item, the manufacturer’s reference and the barcode where there is one. Each carrier has its own format, every shipment has to match it exactly, and carriers generally don’t check it for you, so a mistake only shows up when the parcel stops.

Tilted Carriers now does this for you. Tick Send Product Identifiers on your carrier settings and every item’s customs data goes to the carrier in the format it asks for, built from your Sage stock code, with nothing to key for each order. It is switched on per carrier account, so you can turn it on as you are ready. The customs information itself comes from Sage as before: commodity codes, country of origin and values for each item, with your EORI, VAT or IOSS and UKIMS numbers.

Some carriers ask businesses that ship through their API to let them know before changing what they send, and we can help you with that conversation. The update is available now for Tilted Carriers customers.

If you send parcels into the EU from Sage 200, talk to us.