The delivery term written into the contract decides who collects a duty refund
22 October 2026, 09:42
A customs duty is paid at the border, when goods enter the country that imposes it. Its cost, however, can end up with another business through the price. The distinction becomes decisive when the duty is paid back. On 22 October the German group Sartorius, a supplier to the pharmaceutical industry, announced that in the first nine months of 2026 it had compensated its customers for around €31 million of US tariffs: it had passed them on through surcharges, and US customs is now returning them to the group.
The refund goes to whoever appears as the importer on the customs declaration
In February 2026 the US Supreme Court ruled unlawful the tariffs imposed under the IEEPA, the American law on emergency economic powers. They include the "reciprocal" tariffs introduced in April 2025: for goods from the European Union, after the agreement of July 2025, the total levy came to 15%. Only the part imposed under that law can be recovered, not the ordinary duty.
US customs pays the money back with interest, but only on application. The refund goes to the importer of record, that is, the party named as importer on the declaration for each shipment. It may be the American subsidiary of a European group, a distributor, the end customer or the seller itself. An Italian business that shipped goods to the United States is not entitled to the refund simply because it sold them: the business itself must appear as the importer, shipment by shipment.
The delivery term decides who the importer is
The delivery term is the clause in the contract that says where the seller hands over the goods and which costs and formalities fall to each party. The most widely used rules are the International Chamber of Commerce's Incoterms, in their 2020 version. Of these, only one places import clearance on arrival and the duties on the seller: DDP (Delivered Duty Paid). Under all the other terms, from goods collected at the factory (EXW) to delivery at destination without customs clearance (DAP), import formalities and the duty fall to the buyer.
For anyone selling in foreign markets the consequence is direct. A business that sold to the United States on any term other than DDP left the duty to its American customer, who is also the one who applies for the refund and collects it. A business that sold DDP had to clear the goods through customs and pay the duty: the refund goes to whoever is named as importer on the declaration, the seller itself or its American subsidiary.
The typical mistake is confusing who paid the duty with who bore its cost
Take an Italian business that sold DAP and, so as not to lose its American customer, granted a discount equal to part of the duty: it bore the cost without having paid the duty. The refund still goes to the customer, who paid the duty at customs. The business recovers that share of the cost only if the contract says how the refund is to be credited to it; otherwise it can only ask for it, in a negotiation.
The opposite case is Sartorius. The group was the one paying the duties, but it had charged them to its customers through a surcharge: the refund reaches the party that paid, while the cost was borne by the buyers. Sartorius has decided to compensate them: it records what it owes them as lower revenue and, for the same amount, as lower cost of sales, because customs is returning those duties. The net effect on profit is nil; turnover for the nine months, on the other hand, grows less: by 6.9% at constant exchange rates, against 8.1% without the compensation.
In both situations the refund does not go to whoever bore the cost of the duty: it goes to whoever appears as the importer on the customs declaration. It is the signed clauses or, failing those, a negotiation that move that money from the one who collects it to the one who bore the cost.
Every sale to the United States should be reread alongside its contract
For every American supply contract from 2025 onwards, the following are set out side by side: the delivery term, who appears as the importer on the customs declarations, and what was done with the price when the tariffs arrived, that is, discounts granted or surcharges added.
Shipments under DDP with the business as importer are a claim on US customs, to be made with the documents for each shipment. Those with the customer as importer, accompanied by a discount, are an amount the business recovers only if the contract provides for it or if the customer agrees to share it. The former are collected with an application. For the latter there is just one thing to check: does the contract say what happens to the price if the duty is paid back?
This article was prompted by a news item published in Handelsblatt on 22 October 2026.