Sourcing travel dental kits from China

Duty on travel dental kits

Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 5 October 2026, heading 9605 covers travel sets for personal toilet, sewing or shoe or clothes cleaning. Qualifying travel dental kits under 9605 00 00 00 carry 0% duty from China. The supplied extract lists no anti-dumping or countervailing duty and no suspension. It contains only this commodity line.

The tariff attaches CITES and cat-and-dog-fur import and export controls. Cat and dog fur, and products made from it, are banned from import and export. For kits from China containing animal or plant materials, obtain material and species details and ask your customs broker to confirm the applicable CITES requirements before ordering.

Confirm the commodity code using the complete contents and retail presentation. Gift sets whose essential character comes from cosmetics are classified with the cosmetics; do not assume every toothbrush-and-toothpaste pack qualifies here. See the wider travel-kit guide for the rest of the heading.

Specify the toothbrush, toothpaste and pouch

Approve a contents list covering the manual toothbrush, toothpaste, any floss, brush cover and pouch. Specify brush filament material, stiffness and end-rounding, head shape, handle finish and any folding joint. For toothpaste, agree the formulation, flavour, declared fill, tube material, cap and seal. Approve the assembled pack so the tube cannot rub against exposed bristles.

For sale in Great Britain, confirm with the relevant authority whether the toothpaste is regulated as a cosmetic and which responsible person, safety report, notification through the Submit Cosmetic Product Notifications service and ingredient labelling requirements apply. Before a cosmetic product is made available to consumers, its safety must be checked by a qualified safety assessor. Ask for the compliance documents for the exact toothpaste being packed.

Worked duty example

Illustrative example, not a quote: 15,000 hotel travel dental kits, illustrative order under 9605 00 00 00, invoiced at £15,000 free on board, with £1,200 of freight and insurance to the UK. The customs value is £16,200. Duty at 0% is £0. Import VAT at 20% is charged on the customs value plus duty, £16,200, so it is £3,240. With no duty, the only import tax is the VAT, which a VAT-registered importer can usually reclaim. The import duty and VAT guide explains each step.

Inspection checklist

Brush: check tuft retention, rounded filament ends, smooth moulding and handle strength against the approved sample. Open and close folding handles and check that they hold securely during brushing.

Toothpaste: compare the tube and formulation documents with the approved specification. Check ingredient labelling, print legibility, cap fit and seals; squeeze sampled tubes to look for leakage.

Assembly: count the contents of sampled packs, inspect brush covers and pouch closures, and check for exposed bristles, dirt, crushed tubes or missing components.

Arrival: compare carton contents with the packing list and approved sample. Record damaged packs and mismatched toothpaste batches before releasing stock. Use an agreed inspection checklist.

What goes wrong

A travel brush can look correct while having loose tufts, rough filament ends or a folding joint that collapses in use. Toothpaste tubes can leak at the crimp or cap and contaminate the brush. Inspect assembled packs as well as loose components.

A supplier may substitute toothpaste after sample approval or pack a different tube into the correct pouch. Match the production formulation and artwork to the compliance documents before shipment, and require approval for substitutions. A compliant pouch does not establish that its toothpaste is compliant.

Cambridge China Bridge sources these products for UK businesses, checking the factory and the documents before shipment. See factory verification. For own-brand ranges, see sourcing for brands.