HS Code Detail
220870 Chapter 22 · Beverages Liqueurs and cordials
Six-digit subheading in Beverages, chapter 22 of the Harmonized System, priced here for 5 destination markets.
Anatomy of 220870
You will declare against a longer local code that begins 220870: ten digits in the United States and the United Kingdom, eight in the European Union, and the first six the same everywhere. Which trailing digits apply is what the 5 rates below differ on.
What this code covers
Import duty by country
MFN duty rate · 5 countries| Country | Duty | VAT | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🇨🇦Canada | Not a % | 5% | |
| 🇩🇪Germany | 0% | 19% | |
| 🇵🇹Portugal | 0% | 23% | |
| 🇬🇧United Kingdom | 0% | 20% | |
| 🇺🇸United States | 0% | 0% | |
Canada charges this code by the hectolitre, the item or the kilogram rather than on its value, sometimes alongside a percentage, which is why the duty column reads Not a % there; a charge of that kind cannot be shown as a single percentage, so none is shown, the calculator does not estimate it, and the official wording is under each of those rows.
Rates shown are MFN (Most Favoured Nation), the default for WTO members. Preferential FTA rates may be lower with valid proof of origin. Section 301 / anti-dumping surcharges on Chinese-origin goods are not included.
What that costs: 220870 into Portugal
An illustrative consignment of 220870 invoiced at EUR 2,000.00, priced in EUR because a threshold is set in the destination's currency and nothing here is converted.
| Goods value on the invoice | EUR 2,000.00 |
| International freight | EUR 120.00 |
| Cargo insurance | EUR 30.00 |
| Value the duty is charged on, CIF basis | EUR 2,150.00 |
| Duty at 0% | EUR 0.00 |
| Portugal tax at 23%, charged on the value plus the duty | EUR 494.50 |
| Total, before commercial charges | EUR 2,644.50 |
And if the consignment were small
Portugal relieves nothing: the relief was abolished, so the duty above is charged whatever the consignment is worth. A smaller shipment pays less because the value is lower, not because a threshold spared it.
Selling rather than buying? EUR 2,644.50 is what your buyer in Portugal pays to take delivery of this consignment, yours to pay if you quote DDP and theirs if you quote DAP: Exporting to Portugal sets out who collects it and what your invoice has to say.
An illustration, not a quotation: broker fees, handling and any trade remedy on the origin sit outside it. Price 220870 on your own numbers in the duty calculator.
How these rates were verified
Rates last verified 7 September 2026Every figure in the table above was read from the official tariff database of the market that charges it, on the date shown. Nothing here is copied from another aggregator.
- 🇺🇸US
- HTS General for 220870 US, read on 2026-09-07 from https://hts.usitc.gov/search?query=2208.70 and again on 2026-09-07 from https://hts.usitc.gov/reststop/exportList?from=22&to=23&format=CSV&styles=false. Both returned 0%. The United States International Trade Commission is the only body that publishes this schedule. The second reading was taken in a different format to check the reading, not to corroborate the schedule, because there is no second schedule to corroborate it against. Retrieved text: 2208.70.00 Free
- 🇬🇧GB
- Third country duty for 220870 GB, read on 2026-09-07 from https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/commodities/2208701000 and again on 2026-09-07 from https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reference-document-for-the-customs-tariff-establishment-eu-exit-regulations-2020. Both returned 0%. The two publications are independent of each other and they agree. Retrieved text: 2208701000 0.00 %; 2208709000 0.00 %
- 🇨🇦CA
- MFN for 220870 CA, read on 2026-09-07 from https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/trade-commerce/tariff-tarif/2026/html/00/ch22-eng.html and again on 2026-09-07 from https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/trade-commerce/tariff-tarif/2026/menu-eng.html. Both returned the official wording "12.28¢/litre of absolute ethyl alcohol". The Canada Border Services Agency is the only body that publishes this schedule. The Department of Justice publishes the Act and refers readers to the Agency for the schedule itself, so both readings are the Agency's, taken from two different products. Retrieved text: 2208.70.00 12.28¢/litre of absolute ethyl alcohol
- 🇩🇪DE 🇵🇹PT
- One reading covers DE and PT, which are priced from the same schedule: Third country duty (EU, via NI Online Tariff) for 220870 DE, read on 2026-09-07 from https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/xi/commodities/2208701000 and again on 2026-09-07 from https://trade.ec.europa.eu/access-to-markets/en/results?product=220870&origin=CN&destination=DE. Both returned 0%. The two publications are independent of each other and they agree. Retrieved text: 2208701000 0.00 %; 2208709000 0.00 %
Markets with no figure recorded
Australia: Two official readings of 2208.70 returned different answers, so no Australia figure is recorded. Averaging them, or preferring one, would publish a number neither reading supports.
Re-check first: The United States charges no customs duty here, so the landed cost is excise and freight rather than tariff. What separates liqueurs and cordials from the spirits above them in this heading is the added sugar and flavouring, not the base spirit.
What falls under 220870
- Liqueurs and cordials
- Cream liqueurs, fruit and herbal liqueurs, coffee liqueurs and sweetened spirit based drinks
- Bottled aperitif and digestif preparations sweetened above the statutory sugar minimum
What's specifically excluded
These look similar but belong under a different code:
Commonly confused with
220840: Spiced rums
The liqueur subheading is reached by sweetening, and spirits sweetened past the threshold that defines a liqueur move here from their own subheading. A spiced rum below that threshold stays a rum, so two products on the same shelf can sit in different subheadings.
220600: Cream and fermented base drinks
A liqueur is spirit based, so a sweetened drink built on a fermented base rather than a distilled one is an other fermented beverage of 2206. How the alcohol was produced decides it, and that is not visible on the bottle.
Classification & cost note
Liqueurs are defined by sweetening rather than by base spirit, which is why a subheading containing cream, coffee, herbal and fruit products holds together at all. The sugar threshold that separates a liqueur from a flavoured spirit is set in the destination market's own rules rather than in the Harmonized System, so the same formulation can be a liqueur in one jurisdiction and a flavoured spirit in another, and an importer selling one recipe into several markets can legitimately hold different classifications for it. Cream liqueurs add a second dimension: they contain dairy, which brings veterinary and sanitary import requirements in many markets that no other product in this subheading faces, along with cold chain and shelf life considerations that are commercial rather than regulatory.
Typical products: Cream liqueurs · Coffee and chocolate liqueurs · Fruit liqueurs and schnapps · Herbal and bitter liqueurs · Nut liqueurs such as amaretto style products · Sweetened spirit based aperitifs · Sloe and hedgerow fruit liqueurs · Anise flavoured pastis style liqueurs
What the notes to section IV say
Chapter 22 sits in section IV, prepared foodstuffs; beverages, spirits and vinegar; tobacco and manufactured tobacco substitutes; Products, whether or not containing nicotine, intended for inhalation without combustion; Other nicotine containing products intended for the intake of nicotine into the human body, where a section note governs every chapter in the section and applies before the heading notes below; the one reaching chapter 22 names no heading this site holds a code under, and it is quoted whole on the chapter 22 page, read from https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/sections/4 on 2026-09-08.
What the nomenclature says about heading 2208
220870 is a subheading of 2208, undenatured ethyl alcohol of an alcoholic strength by volume of less than 80 % vol; spirits, liqueurs and other spirituous beverages , and this site holds 3 other codes under the same heading, which every rule below governs equally.
No numbered note to chapter 22 takes heading 2208 as its subject, which is what the published notes say rather than a gap on this page: the heading is defined by its own wording above and by the note to the chapter, quoted in full on the chapter 22 page.
One further note to chapter 22 names heading 2208 from elsewhere in its own text, usually to send goods into it or away from it, and the sentence that names it is quoted below.
Note 3 to chapter 22, which is about something else
Alcoholic beverages are classified in heading 2203 to 2206 or heading 2208 as appropriate.
Read from the notes to chapter 22 published in the UK Trade Tariff by HM Revenue and Customs, at https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/chapters/22, with the heading title from https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/headings/2208, on 2026-09-07, with the whole layer and the reason a heading note is a chapter note set out on the chapter 22 page. These notes are part of the international text of the Harmonized System, so the rule is the same whichever destination a shipment is going to, and it decides classification and never a rate.
Questions about 220870
What makes a drink a liqueur?
Sweetening. A liqueur is a spirit based drink with sugar content above the threshold set in the destination market's rules, which is why the category holds cream, coffee, fruit and herbal products together.
Can one product be a liqueur in one country and not another?
Yes. The sugar threshold is set by national or regional rules rather than by the Harmonized System, so a single formulation can legitimately carry different classifications in different markets.
Do cream liqueurs need anything extra?
Usually. Dairy content brings veterinary and sanitary import requirements in many markets that other liqueurs do not face, assessed by a food safety authority rather than by customs.
Is there a minimum strength for a liqueur?
Most markets prescribe one in their spirit drink rules, alongside the sugar minimum, and a product below it cannot be sold under that description. The threshold sits in food law rather than in the tariff, so a drink can be classified here and still be unlawful to label as a liqueur in the destination.
Related codes in Chapter 22
Calculate duty for HS 220870
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