Sourcing glass-making machines from China

0% duty

Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 26 September 2026, machines for assembling lamps, tubes or valves in glass envelopes and machines for manufacturing or hot working glass or glassware, heading 8475, carried 0% on goods from China on all five lines, including parts, with no anti-dumping measure.

Machines for cold working glass, such as flat glass cutting, edging and grinding machines, are classified under heading 8464, and glass furnaces under 8514. Confirm the commodity code from whether the machine works hot or cold glass.

Machinery rules

Each machine placed on the UK market must meet the essential health and safety requirements of the Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations 2008, with a declaration of conformity, marking and instructions in English. Glass forming lines combine hot glass, fast mould movements and compressed air, so the builder's risk assessment to BS EN ISO 12100 and the guarding and control design carry the weight.

The electrical equipment is expected to follow BS EN 60204-1, and a line made of several machines needs a conformity assessment for the assembly as well as the parts.

Specifying a machine

Specify the product (bottle, jar, tableware, tube, fibre), glass type, sizes and weights, output per minute, number of sections or cavities, forming process, mould and spare mould sets, cooling and compressed air demand, controls, voltage and supply, and the installation and training support needed on site.

Worked duty example

Take a hypothetical order of one glass bottle forming machine with feeder, entered under 8475 29 00 00: £380,000 free on board plus £18,000 of freight and insurance gives a customs value of £398,000. Glass forming machines carry no duty, so import VAT of 20% on £398,000, £79,600, is the only tax. A VAT-registered importer normally reclaims it, so the border adds no lasting cost. Step by step: UK import duty and VAT.

Inspection checklist

Factory acceptance: run the machine at the factory, where possible on glass, and check output rate, product weight and dimensions and defect rate against the contract over an agreed run.

Safety: check guards and interlocks around moving moulds and transfer mechanisms, test every emergency stop, check the electrical panel against BS EN 60204-1, and review the risk assessment to BS EN ISO 12100.

Documents and spares: check the declaration of conformity, English manuals, wiring and pneumatic diagrams, mould drawings and spares list, and check crating and bracing before loading.

What goes wrong

Glass machinery fails on output, moulds and support. Lines do not reach the quoted speed with your glass and product, moulds wear or crack early because of poor mould iron, controls and spares are hard to get outside China, and commissioning drags because engineers cannot travel or the documentation is thin.

Hold a factory acceptance test, agree spares and mould supply in the contract, and plan installation and training before shipment. See our quality inspection guide.

Cambridge China Bridge sources glass forming and processing machinery for UK and overseas glassworks, checking the builder's references and test capability before an order. See factory verification.