Italia: Comprare

In this page: Customs Procedures | Industrial and Manufacturing Profile | Identifying a Supplier | Controlling the Quality of the Products | Organizing Goods Transport To and From Italy

Customs Procedures

Export Clearance: The export procedure foresees, in principle, two stages:
First the exporter/declarant presents the goods, his export declaration and, when necessary, his export authorization or license at the customs office responsible for the place where he is established or where the goods are packed or loaded for export (Article 161 (5) CC). The export declaration must be submitted by electronic means, through the Export Control System (ECS).

Subsequently, the goods are presented at the customs office of exit which examines the goods presented based on the information received from the customs office of export and makes sure that they correspond to those declared and supervises their physical departure (Article 332 UCC IA).

In the case of goods exported by rail, post, air or sea, the customs office of exit may be the office competent for the place where the goods are taken over under a single transport contract for transport to a third country (e.g. port, airport, railway station).
Necessary Declaration: The Customs declaration must contain the commercial invoice, which is a record or evidence of the transaction between the exporter and the importer. The commercial invoice contains the basic information on the transaction:
- code, number, name, quantity and price of the product;
- destination of the goods and the address of the person or place of reception;
- name and registration number of the transport company;
- place of warehousing.
Restrictions: It is only prohibited to export cultural artifacts, specimens of flora and fauna which are threatened with extinction and war material, arms, munitions and such.
Export Taxes: The European Community has abolished export taxes.

Industrial and Manufacturing Profile

Type of Production: The industrial sector constitutes 21.4% of Italy's GDP in 2019 (World Bank).

Professional Associations by Sector: 99 professional associations listed for Italy.

Type of Manufacturers

Original Equipment Manufacturers: There are OEMs especially in the building and technology sectors.
Original Design Manufacturers: ODMs are not very widespread; they are to be found especially in the textile, electronics and manufacturing sectors.
Subcontractors: Subcontractors are becoming more and more widespread on the Italian market. They are integrating particularly the subcontracting network at the European level.

Identifying a Supplier

Business Directories

Multi-sector Directories: All.biz - Italy - Directory of companies in Italy
Dun & Bradstreet - Worldwide directory with financial information on businesses
Guida Monaci - Company database in Italy.
Italian Business Guide - Italian business directory
ItalTrade.com - The Made in Italy business directory
MacRAE'S Blue Book - Business directory with detailed information of companies in Europe
Made in Vicenza - Catalogue of exporters in the province of Vicenza, Italy
Registro Imprese - Companies search engine
The Yellow Pages of Italy - Business directory in Italy.

To search directories by industry in Italy, check out our service Business Directories.

Marketplaces

Marketplaces incorporated in the country: Agrelma
Edilportale
ItalianModa
OfficeBit
The Global Food and Wine Importers Directory
USStyle
Marketplaces present on the continent: Adform
Agromaquinaria
Allegro
Auctelia
Bol.com
Cargoclix
CargoSmart
Cdiscount
Conrad
delcampe.net

To go further, check out our service Online Marketplaces.

Other Useful Resources

Trade Agencies and Their Representations Abroad: Portal for Italian Chambers of Commerce
Assocamere. All the Italian Chambers of Commerce abroad.

To go further, check out our service Trade Shows.

Controlling the Quality of the Products

Quality Control Organizations: Ente Nazionale Italiano di Unificazione
Ministero della Salute

Organizing Goods Transport To and From Italy

Main Useful Means of Transport: The specialised port sector (containers) is in full expansion in Italy. According to the latest available EU-wide Eurostat data, five of the 20 busiest ports in the EU, in terms of container traffic, are located in Italy. The role of sea transport has been expanded in Italy thanks to the project of 'Motorways of the Sea' in the framework of the development of the trans-European transport network.
According to Eurostat, more than 780,000 tonnes of freight transit arrive in Italy each year via the two international airports of Milano Malpensa and Roma Fiumicino.

Goods transport by road measures 1,238 million tonnes per year.

The Italian rail network carries 96 million tonnes of goods every year in Italy.

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