How to fill in a CN22 customs form

Every box explained, plus the three entries that get parcels stopped.

By Alex Carter · Published 18 August 2026

A CN22 is the small customs declaration that goes on the outside of an international parcel. It tells the destination country what is inside, what it is worth, and why it is being sent. Customs officers use it to decide whether duty is owed and whether the parcel may enter at all.

It is a small form and most of it is obvious. The parts that are not obvious are where parcels get stopped.

When you need one

You need a customs declaration whenever a parcel crosses a customs border. That is not the same as crossing a national border, and the difference catches people out:

• France to Germany needs nothing. Both are in the EU customs union, so the parcel is in free circulation.
• France to Switzerland needs a declaration. Switzerland is outside the union despite sitting in the middle of Europe. The same applies to Norway and Iceland.
• The United Kingdom needs one to and from the EU. That changed in 2021 and still surprises sellers who shipped freely before.
• A US parcel to an APO or FPO address needs one, even though it carries an ordinary US ZIP code and looks entirely domestic. USPS requires a declaration regardless of weight or value.

Box by box

Description of contents. The single most important box, and the one most often filled in badly. “Gift”, “goods”, “sample” and “clothing” are not descriptions. Write what the thing actually is: cotton scarf, ceramic mug, silver earrings. If the parcel holds several different things, list them separately rather than lumping them together.

Quantity. How many of each item. Two scarves is a quantity of two, not a description of “scarves”.

Net weight. The weight of the goods themselves, per line, not the weight of the parcel. The gross weight goes elsewhere.

Value. What the item is actually worth, in a real currency, with the currency named. Not zero. Not “n/a”.

HS tariff number. An international code identifying the type of goods. It is optional on a CN22 in many cases and required on a CN23. If you sell the same few products repeatedly, look the codes up once and keep them somewhere; they do not change.

Country of origin. Where the goods were made, which is not necessarily where you are posting from. A maker shipping their own work fills in their own country. A reseller shipping imported stock does not.

Category. Gift, commercial sample, documents, returned goods, or sale of goods. This one has consequences, and it is covered below.

Signature and date. The declaration is a legal statement. An unsigned form is an incomplete one.

The three mistakes that cause trouble

1. Writing “gift” on something you sold

Many countries allow a higher duty-free allowance on genuine gifts, which is exactly why the box is scrutinised. If the parcel came from a shop, has an invoice, or was paid for, it is a sale of goods, whatever the recipient calls it.

Customs officers see thousands of these. A parcel from a business address, declared as a gift, containing three identical items, is not a convincing gift. The usual outcome is that the parcel is held, the recipient is asked to prove the value, and it arrives weeks late with duty owed anyway.

2. Understating the value

Declaring a £60 item as £10 to keep it under a threshold is the other common shortcut, and it goes wrong in two ways. If customs disagree, the parcel is held and the recipient pays the difference plus a handling fee. And if the parcel is lost, your compensation is capped at the declared value. You insured it for £10.

3. A description nobody can act on

“Goods”, “misc”, “present”, “stuff”. A customs officer who cannot tell what is in a parcel has one reliable option, which is to open it. Vague descriptions are the single biggest cause of parcels being inspected.

CN22 or CN23?

The CN22 is the small form that fits on the label. The CN23 is a full sheet with room for itemisation, and it travels in a wallet attached to the parcel.

Traditionally the split was value: roughly 300 SDR, an international unit worth somewhere near £250 or $330 depending on the day. Below that, a CN22; above it, a CN23.

That is no longer true for UK senders. Royal Mail and Parcelforce withdrew the CN22 on 1 June 2026, so every postal shipment leaving the United Kingdom now takes a CN23 whatever it is worth. If you are posting from the UK and someone hands you a CN22, it is the wrong form.

What a printed form does not do

A CN22 or CN23 you print is a paper declaration. Several carriers now also require the same information submitted electronically when you buy postage, and the paper form does not satisfy that. If you are buying a label online, the customs data you type into the carrier’s own system is the filing; the printed form is what travels on the box.

A worked example

A UK maker sending two wool scarves they made themselves to a customer in Canada, sold for £48 the pair, in a parcel weighing 400 g:

Specific, honest, and complete. Nothing there invites an officer to open the box, and if it goes missing the compensation matches what was lost.