Sourcing sugar-free boiled sweets from China

Duty and controls for sugar-free boiled sweets

Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 18 October 2026, heading 1704 covers sugar confectionery not containing cocoa, including white chocolate. Its boiled-sweets line covers filled and unfilled sweets. The table shows product variants within that same commodity line. For other confectionery, see the wider sweets guide.

The boiled-sweets line carries 8% duty for goods from China, with no anti-dumping or countervailing duty and no suspension listed. The tariff attaches a restriction on entry into free circulation and an organic import control. Check the current high-risk food list against the product and origin, and ask your customs broker and port health to confirm any pre-notification, border checks and health entry document requirements. For organic food consignments from China entering Great Britain, confirm certificate of inspection requirements with the relevant authority or your customs broker.

Confirm the commodity code using the complete recipe, filling and manufacturing process. Ask your customs broker to confirm how the tariff controls apply before dispatch. A sugar-free description alone does not settle classification.

Specify the sweetener blend and finished sweet

Specify the polyol and sweetener blend, flavour, colour, acidity, piece shape, filling and wrapper. Agree hardness, dissolution, aftertaste and moisture acceptance criteria against an approved sample. Request the complete recipe, including flavour carriers and filling ingredients, rather than accepting a sugar-free statement on a quotation.

For the sugar-free claim, the finished sweet must contain no more than 0.5g of sugar per 100g. Arrange laboratory testing of the finished product, including its filling. Foods containing more than 10% added polyols must carry the warning ‘excessive consumption may produce laxative effects’. Approve the English artwork before printing.

Worked duty example

Illustrative example, not a quote: Illustrative order: 100 kg of individually wrapped sugar-free boiled sweets under 1704 90 71 00, invoiced at £1,500 free on board, with £200 of freight and insurance to the UK. The customs value is £1,700. Duty at 8% is £136. Import VAT at 20% is charged on the customs value plus duty, £1,836, so it is £367.20. Import taxes total £503.20; a VAT-registered importer can usually reclaim the VAT, so the lasting cost is the £136 of duty. The import duty and VAT guide explains each step. Sugar-free sweets are confectionery, which HMRC's VAT Notice 701/14 lists as standard-rated even though most food is zero-rated, so the 20% VAT shown applies.

Inspection checklist

Recipe: match the shipment recipe and batch analysis to the approved sweetener blend; check sugar results for the finished sweet.

Texture: compare hardness, flavour and aftertaste with retained samples; inspect for sweating, sticking, cracking and leaking fillings.

Labels: check ingredients, emphasised allergens, net quantity, best-before date and UK business address; verify the sugar-free claim and applicable polyol warning.

Wrappers: inspect seals, tears and moisture damage; check batch identifiers against carton records and request food-contact evidence for plastic wrappers.

What goes wrong

A sugar-free shell can conceal a filling or flavour carrier that changes the finished sugar content. Recipe substitutions can also change aftertaste and the polyol warning requirement. Compare production samples with the signed recipe and laboratory results before approving shipment.

Moisture can make hard sweets tacky and difficult to unwrap. Test the agreed packaging under expected storage conditions and inspect arrival samples before releasing stock. Keep damaged or unexplained batches separate while investigating.

Cambridge China Bridge sources these products for UK businesses, checking the factory and the documents before shipment. See factory verification. For repeat volumes, see container programmes.