Paracetamol, aspartame and amides from China

0% for the big names, 6% for most other amides

Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 26 September 2026, carboxyamide-function compounds of heading 2924 carried 6% duty on goods from China, with a 0% rate on the residual lines for listed pharmaceutical substances declared with additional code 2500. Paracetamol has its own line at 6%, but an autonomous suspension without a document condition gives 0% until 31 December 2028. Aspartame and lidocaine had 0% lines. None had an anti-dumping measure.

Many named intermediates on the residual lines have their own suspensions at stated purities, so match the CAS number and purity to the footnotes. Finished paracetamol tablets are medicines in heading 3004, covered in our medicines guide, and other intermediates in our pharmaceutical intermediates guide. Confirm the commodity code.

Medicine and food additive rules

Paracetamol or lidocaine bought for use in human medicines is an active substance under the Human Medicines Regulations 2012: the importer must be registered with the MHRA, the maker must work to good manufacturing practice equivalent to UK standards, in practice ICH Q7, and quality is judged against the British or European Pharmacopoeia monograph, often backed by an EDQM certificate of suitability.

Aspartame is the food additive E 951 under retained Regulation 1333/2008, and must meet the purity criteria in retained Regulation 231/2012. Foods containing it carry the statement that they contain a source of phenylalanine. Industrial amides such as acrylamide derivatives are chemicals that need safety data sheets, GB CLP labels and UK REACH registration at one tonne a year.

Worked duty example

An invented example rather than a quote: 10 tonnes of paracetamol active substance, commodity code 2924 29 70 87, bought for £38,000 free on board, with £2,500 of freight and insurance, so £40,500 is the value customs works from. No duty is due on paracetamol; import VAT at 20% of £40,500 is £8,100. If you are VAT-registered, that VAT is normally reclaimable. The 0% comes from an autonomous suspension to 31 December 2028; without it the third-country rate on this line is 6%. See calculating UK import duty and VAT for the method.

What goes wrong

Compliance failures come first: the paracetamol site's GMP certificate does not cover the grade, the importer is not registered, or a technical-grade product is sold into a medicines supply chain. Quality failures follow: impurities such as 4-aminophenol above the monograph limit, particle size that does not suit direct compression, and aspartame that fails a food-grade specification or cakes in humid storage.

Check the GMP certificate, certificate of suitability and importer registration before ordering; then test each lot to the pharmacopoeia monograph for assay and related substances by HPLC, check residual solvents to ICH Q3C and particle size against the customer's specification, and store and ship in sealed, lined drums.

Cambridge China Bridge sources paracetamol, aspartame and other amide chemicals for licensed manufacturers and food businesses, with supplier and lot checks agreed before shipment. See how we source pharmaceutical and food chemicals.