One single market,
27 countries

Why your customer's country matters

If you ship goods to the EU, you pay the same duty and follow the same product rules wherever they land. The guide Exporting to the EU explains what that involves. A container of coffee from Huila clears customs in Hamburg under the same rules as in Valencia.

After that, the differences start. Labels and instructions usually have to be in the local language. VAT ranges from 17% to 27%. Packaging is reported to national registers, and each country has its own authorities for data protection, market surveillance and cybersecurity.

You see this most clearly with NIS2. The directive is addressed to the member states, so only the national law decides who is covered, where companies register and which authority supervises them. Some countries transposed it in 2024, others only in 2026. Spain, France and Ireland had not passed a law by the deadline; in July 2026 the Commission took them to the Court of Justice of the EU, together with the Netherlands. The Netherlands brought its law into force shortly afterward.

What this means for you as a supplier: ask your customer which national law it is classified under. That law determines the reporting deadlines and the evidence it will write into your contract. Many suppliers keep that evidence in one place so they can reuse it from one customer to the next. A GRC platform such as Sightadel links NIS2 measures and ISO 27001 controls to the same documents.

The 27 countries compared

Besides Spanish, some Spanish regions have further official languages, such as Catalan, Basque and Galician. The tax rates come from the European Commission's overview; reduced rates for food and other goods are not listed.

To see where your company stands on the EU rules, take the free EU Readiness Check.

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