22 Dec '25
It is that time of year again. Shops are full. Not just with traditional red, silver and gold, but with pastel, black and white, Scandinavian wood, Barbie pink and minimalist concrete. Christmas trees are no longer trees, but themes. You buy them to match your interior, your identity, or simply decorate them based on what is 'in' this year.
And somewhere between the fairy lights without lights, the glass mushrooms, the abstract shapes and the plastic ornaments without any Christmas symbolism, the question arises: when is something actually a Christmas item? Surprisingly, this question is not only philosophical or commercial, but also legal. Jikke Biermasz recalls a relevant amendment to an additional CN note from 2022 in this context.
Christmas has long since ceased to be exclusively a Christian religious festival. It is a commercial season, a logistical operation, a global trading moment. Containers full of Christmas decorations arrive months in advance, are stored, resold and repackaged, often without a single Santa Claus, reindeer or star in sight.
This is precisely why the boundary has been blurred in customs practice for years:
Customs law has a very clear-cut answer to this question.
The Combined Nomenclature (CN) determines which tariff heading a product falls under and which import duty applies when imported into the EU. Not only the headings and subheadings are relevant, but also the notes accompanying the chapters.
For Christmas items, this is CN heading 9505 of Section XX, Chapter 95, which reads:
"9505 – Festive, carnival and other entertainment articles, including conjuring tricks and novelty jokes"
This heading includes subheading 9505 10:
"9505 10 – Articles for Christmas festivities"
These terms are deliberately broad. They do not provide an exhaustive list, but form a starting point. As is often the case, further clarification is provided in the notes.
These notes are not footnotes. They are legally binding. General Rule 1 for classification states: "[...] for legal purposes, classification shall be determined according to the terms of the headings and any relative Section or Chapter Notes and, provided such headings or Notes do not otherwise require, according to the following provisions."
Christmas articles of 9505 10 are subject to a customs duty of 0% if they are made of glass and a customs duty of 2.7% if they are made of other materials, provided that no tariff preferences apply. A zero tariff or low import duty is obviously attractive.
With Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/1638, the European Commission amended an additional note to CN Chapter 95, specifically for Christmas tree decorations that may fall under subheading 9505 10. Opinions differed on the interpretation of the wording of the last sentence of the additional note as it applied until then. The Commission therefore considers that, in the interests of legal certainty, it should be clarified that decorative articles for Christmas trees do not have to be related to the theme of Christmas, but only have to be designed in such a way that they are recognisable as decorative articles for Christmas trees.
Since then, the core of Additional Note 1(b) has read as follows:
‘decorative items for Christmas trees.
These are articles designed to be hung on a Christmas tree (i.e. lightweight articles of generally non-durable material designed to decorate the Christmas tree).’
This means that a Christmas theme, a religious image or a traditional Christmas bauble shape are no longer required.
An ornament no longer has to be a Christmas bauble to be legally considered a Christmas tree decoration. This fits in seamlessly with today's street scene.
While shops are becoming increasingly creative, customs law remains consistent.
It does not consider marketing, atmosphere, emotion or whether something feels like Christmas.
It looks at design, function and objective characteristics, such as weight.
Is an item designed to hang on a Christmas tree? Then, provided it is otherwise suitable, it falls under CN heading 9505, subheading 9505 10. Even if it is lilac, even if no one immediately associates it with Christmas.
Precisely because customs law is detached from symbolism, there is room for what Christmas means to people personally. The law does not need to pass judgement on the content of the celebration. It leaves that to the user, the shop, the family, the tree.
Whether you celebrate Christmas as a religious commemoration, a cultural ritual, a family tradition or simply as a moment of light in the dark months, the Christmas tree remains a place where meaning is hung, literally and figuratively.
Implementing Regulation 2022/1638 is not a major reform. It is a small, technical clarification. But it is one that fits perfectly with modern times, in which Christmas is becoming increasingly multifaceted and in which the law moves along soberly without taking away the magic.
Ploum has a specialised Customs, Trade and Logistics practice that assists companies with complex issues in the field of customs law and international trade. The team advises and litigates on matters such as tariff classification, customs value, origin, authorisations, sanctions law and enforcement by customs, as well as product regulations and transport law. In addition, Ploum assists clients in objection and appeal proceedings against customs decisions and in strategic issues relating to compliance and risk management within international trade chains.
If you have any questions regarding this blog, please contact Jikke Biermasz or Arjan Wolkers.
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