Sourcing dishwashers and packing machines from China

Zero duty

Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 25 September 2026, household and other dishwashing machines, machinery for cleaning or drying bottles, machinery for filling, closing, sealing or labelling containers, and other packing or wrapping machinery carried 0% duty on goods from China, with no anti-dumping measure.

Machines are often shipped part-assembled; confirm the commodity code for the form in which they arrive.

Household dishwashers

Regulation 15 of the Ecodesign for Energy-Related Products and Energy Information Regulations 2021 applies Chapter 3 to electric mains-operated household dishwashers, including built-in models and models that can also run on batteries, and excludes dishwashers covered by the Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations 2008; the requirements are in Schedules 6 to 8. Ask for the test report against those requirements and the UK label and product information data for each model.

UK plumbing and a fused 13 A plug apply as for washing machines.

Commercial dishwashers and packaging machines

Commercial dishwashers and packaging machines are machinery, so they need the machinery conformity assessment, technical file, English manual and guarding appropriate to the machine; the machinery guide covers the documents. Machines handling food must use food-safe contact parts and be cleanable. For glasswashing equipment, see our guide to sourcing commercial undercounter glasswashers.

For packaging lines, run a factory acceptance test with your own containers, films and labels before shipment, and agree spare parts and remote support; the catering equipment guide covers kitchen machines. For pallet wrapping equipment, see our pallet wrapper sourcing guide. For bottle closures, see our bottle capping machine sourcing guide. For vacuum packaging, see our chamber vacuum packer sourcing guide.

Worked duty example

Suppose, purely for illustration, you import 500 built-in household dishwashers under 8422 11 00 00. At £75,000 free on board and £5,000 to ship and insure, the customs value is £80,000. With 0% duty on household dishwashers, the only charge is import VAT: 20% of £80,000, or £16,000. VAT-registered businesses usually recover that in their next return. The method is set out in how UK import duty and VAT work.

Inspection checklist

Household dishwashers: electrical safety reports to BS EN 60335-1 and BS EN 60335-2-5 for the exact model, energy, water and cleaning performance measured by the method of BS EN 60436 against the declared label values, hoses and inlet valves checked for the backflow protection the Water Supply (Water Fittings) Regulations 1999 require, and each sampled unit run through a full programme for leaks.

Commercial dishwashers: BS EN 60335-2-58 reports for the model, wash and rinse temperatures measured with a data logger against the manufacturer's figures, water connections checked for backflow protection, and drain pumps, detergent dosing and door interlocks checked during a factory run.

Packaging machines: guarding and interlocks checked against the relevant part of the BS EN 415 series, safety-related controls against BS EN ISO 13849-1 and interlock devices against BS EN ISO 14119, every emergency stop tested, and a factory acceptance test run with the buyer's own containers, films and labels at the rated speed with seal integrity checked on the output.

What goes wrong

Dishwashers fail on the label, leaks and cleaning. Energy and water consumption measured on the standard programme exceed what the label and product information sheet claim, door seals and hoses leak, circulation pumps and heaters fail early, and cleaning and drying performance falls short. Packaging machines arrive with sealing jaws that do not hold temperature, guards without interlocks and controls only in Chinese.

Run the eco programme on samples and measure energy and water against the declared figures, leak-test door seals, hoses and aquastop valves, check cleaning and drying with a loaded rack, carry out electrical safety tests with the UK plug, and for packaging machines run your own packs through at production speed, check seal integrity and test every guard interlock and emergency stop.

Installation and support

Plan installation, commissioning and training, and who supplies wear parts such as seals, heaters and cutting blades. Cambridge China Bridge sources dishwashers and packaging machinery, with ecodesign or machinery documents, factory acceptance tests and spares planned before shipment. See how our sourcing service works.

Related guides: Sourcing laundry and dry-cleaning machines from China.