Brushes, brooms and paint rollers from China

2% duty

Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 26 September 2026, brooms, brushes including brushes that are parts of machines, appliances or vehicles, hand-operated floor sweepers, mops, feather dusters, paint pads and rollers, and squeegees, heading 9603, carried 2% on goods from China on all twelve lines, with no anti-dumping measure.

Electric toothbrushes are classified under heading 8509, while replacement toothbrush heads stay in 9603. Combs are in heading 9615 (see our combs and hair accessories guide). Confirm the commodity code from the brush's use.

Product safety

Consumer brushes must be safe under the General Product Safety Regulations 2005: tufts that do not pull out and become a choking risk, especially on children's toothbrushes, handles without sharp edges, and coatings and plastics that are safe for the use. Manual toothbrushes are commonly tested to ISO 20126, which sets tuft retention and handle strength tests.

Brushes sold as part of a paint range are covered alongside our water-based paints guide.

Specifying brushes

Specify filament type (synthetic, natural bristle or blend), filament length and taper, width and thickness of the fill, ferrule material and fixing (epoxy set, nailed or crimped), handle material and finish, roller cover pile and core, and the pack and barcode format. For toothbrushes, specify filament stiffness and end-rounding.

Worked duty example

For a made-up shipment of 60,000 decorators' paint brushes under 9603 40 10 00, add the £2,500 of freight and insurance to the £27,000 free-on-board price and customs sees £29,500. At 2%, duty on these paint brushes is £590; import VAT of £6,018 is 20% of the value with duty added. Together that is £6,608, but a VAT-registered importer usually gets the VAT back. The duty and VAT guide walks through the calculation.

Inspection checklist

Bristle retention: pull-test tufts or filaments on sampled brushes with the agreed force, and for toothbrushes check tuft retention and handle strength to ISO 20126.

Ferrule and handle: check ferrules are tight and do not rotate, the set holds after soaking in water and solvent, and handles are smooth, straight and correctly printed or branded.

Performance and packing: paint a test panel to check pickup, shedding and edge, check roller covers for lint and seam, and check packs, labels and barcodes before loading.

What goes wrong

Brushes fail on shedding, fixing and filaments. Paint brushes shed bristles into the finish, the ferrule set softens in solvent so the head loosens, filaments are shorter or thinner than the sample, roller covers leave lint, and toothbrush tufts pull out.

Pull-test tufts, soak-test ferrules and paint a panel with samples before shipment. See our quality inspection guide.

Cambridge China Bridge sources own-brand paint brushes, rollers, household brushes and toothbrushes for retailers and trade brands, and can start with a first order across a small range. See small orders.