How to Import Power Transformers to Italy From Bangladesh: Step-by-Step Guide

An Italian buyer who orders a distribution transformer from Bangladesh is buying into two systems at once: a build in a Bangladeshi factory and an entry through Italian customs. The unit has to match the site specification in Milan and arrive at Genoa with the right code, charges paid and papers. This guide starts on the Italian side, then follows one 400 kVA oil-immersed unit from order to a Milan warehouse.

What Italy asks for before the transformer can enter

Start with the importer of record. An Economic Operators Registration and Identification (EORI) number is mandatory for the clearance of all types of customs operations in the customs territory of the European Union, such as import, export and transit.¹ A person can hold only one valid EORI number at a time, assigned by the customs authority where the operator is established.¹ An Italian importer therefore registers with the Italian customs authority, the Agenzia delle Dogane e dei Monopoli (ADM).¹

ADM runs the Italian side of the entry: its import clearance moved to electronic telematic tracks when the old single administrative document message was dismissed at the end of November 2022.² To record the transaction in the VAT ledgers and deduct the import VAT, the operator downloads the prospetto di riepilogo ai fini contabili from its reserved area on the customs website.² Any person may appoint a representative to deal with the customs authority; for direct representation, a forwarding agent holding the particular licence must be appointed.²

CE marking is only required for products covered by harmonised European Union rules that specifically mandate it, and the manufacturer is responsible for meeting all applicable European Union requirements and affixing the marking.³ No central body gives permission to use the mark: the manufacturer identifies the relevant rules, decides whether a notified body must be involved, gathers the technical documentation and signs an EU declaration of conformity.³ The declaration and the technical documentation must be retained for no less than a decade after the product is placed on the market, with a notified body's four-digit identification number next to the CE marking where one is used.³

IEC 60076-1:2011 applies to three-phase and single-phase power transformers, including autotransformers, with stated exceptions.⁴ The Italian adoption, CEI EN 60076-1:2015, is identical to IEC 60076-1:2011, as is the European adoption EN 60076-1:2011.⁴ Write "CEI EN 60076-1" in the specification rather than a bare "IEC 60076", and name the parts that apply.

The step-by-step route from order to a Milan warehouse

The stages below run in order, and the diagram follows them from the specification in Dhaka to the warehouse in Milan.

1. Put the site specification in writing first: a separate line for each rating, giving kVA, primary and secondary voltages, frequency, vector group, impedance with its tolerance, cooling method, tap range and changer type, stated losses, insulation levels, fittings and packing.

2. Shortlist makers whose current range covers the size and type you need, with in-house core cutting, winding and drying kit and a test bay.

3. Settle the CE file and the test scope. Routine test reports should travel with the transformer; type test reports prove a design, so the design reference, rating and date must match your order.⁵

4. Confirm the ten-digit code for each rating, the duty on the entry date, and whether any preference applies with the proof it needs.

5. Fix the delivery terms with the place named in full, book the heavy-lift sailing, and confirm the inland haul from the port to Milan. A transformer is heavy and tall with exposed bushings, so it usually moves on a flat rack or as break-bulk cargo.

6. Assemble the Bangladesh export file before loading. Customs values the shipment from the commercial invoice, which in Bangladesh must list the Export Registration Certificate number and the HS code of the goods.⁶ An Export Registration Certificate from the Export Promotion Bureau is required for every exporter in Bangladesh, and the local Chamber of Commerce issues the certificate of origin.⁶

7. Clear the unit at Genoa, pay the duty and the IVA, release the unit, and move it by road or rail to the Milan warehouse. Check the delivery before signing: count the units against the packing list and note damage on the delivery note at once.

What the border charges: duty, IVA and the EBA route

Power transformers sit under heading 8504. The code follows the cooling medium and the power handling capacity, which also sets the duty: the tariff lines open for this guide show a third-country duty of 3.70% beside each liquid dielectric line and beside the other-transformer line above 500 kVA.⁷

Give each rating its own invoice line and its own ten-digit code, and list spares separately under 8504 90. Duty is charged on the customs value; the broker confirms the live rate for the entry date before you price the order.⁷ Our HS code guide for power transformers walks through the heading, the band boundaries and the parts lines.

A preferential rate is only worth anything with the proof behind it. Under the European Union's Everything But Arms initiative, least developed countries get duty-free and quota-free access to the European Union market for all products except arms and ammunition, and Bangladesh currently enjoys that access.⁸ A reduced or zero rate applies only with a preferential origin, so ask the broker which proof the entry needs and ask the supplier before you order whether it can provide it.²

Italian import VAT, known as IVA, is usually the larger border charge. The Italian standard VAT rate is 22%.² The customs value is the transaction value, the price actually paid or payable, with transport and insurance added where they are not in the price.² Transport after arrival at the place of introduction is not included, so freight to the Italian border sits inside the value and haulage to Milan sits outside it.² Price the IVA at 22% on the customs value plus duty. Input VAT on business purchases is generally allowed for recovery, so a VAT-registered buyer usually recovers the import IVA on the VAT return.²

Genoa or La Spezia: choosing the entry port and the road to Milan

Name the entry port in the order and in the freight booking: for a unit bound for Milan, Genoa is the natural entry point. Genoa, on the Ligurian coast in northwestern Italy, is the country's largest seaport and the main gateway for northern Italy and much of central Europe.⁹ Its terminals include PSA Genova Pra', SECH, Calata Bettolo and Spinelli GPT, with a combined capacity above 2.6 million TEU a year; the port handled 2.8 million TEU in 2025.⁹ The Terzo Valico rail line to Milan and direct motorway access carry goods onward.⁹

La Spezia, on the Ligurian Sea near the Tuscan border, ranks among Italy's top container ports.¹⁰ Its main facility is the La Spezia Container Terminal, with a 986-metre quay and 15 metres of water depth, and over 35% of its cargo moves by rail, so the rail leg toward Milan is worth pricing against the road leg from Genoa.¹⁰ The port handles over 1.4 million TEU a year.¹⁰

Whichever port you name, settle the heavy-lift questions before the vessel sails: confirm the sailing can lift the packed unit, the terminal can receive it, and the onward haul to Milan is booked with transport and lifting matched to the packed weight. Ask if the unit travels oil-filled or dry. Then run the arrival checks in our power transformers quality control checklist before the unit is energised.

Worked example: one 400 kVA unit from Chattogram to Milan

Example figures. One 400 kVA oil-immersed distribution transformer, FOB Chattogram, shipped to Genoa and delivered by road to a Milan warehouse. Duty uses the third-country rate shown for 8504 2100 00, and IVA uses the 22% Italian rate.^{7 2}

Check it: 9,800 + 1,900 = 11,700; 3.70% of 11,700 = 432.90; 22% of 12,132.90 = 2,669.24; 11,700 + 432.90 + 650 + 480 = 13,262.90; 13,262.90 + 2,669.24 = 15,932.14. Broker fees sit inside the 650 line.

If the Everything But Arms preference applies with the origin proof accepted, the duty line falls to zero and the IVA base falls with it.⁸ Duty at 0% leaves the IVA at 22% of 11,700, which is 2,574.00, so the landed cost before IVA recovery becomes 12,830.00 and the cash paid 15,404.00. The saving is 528.14, made of 432.90 in duty and 95.24 in IVA on that duty, so confirm the origin proof before you price the order, not after the vessel sails.

How to check the supplier and the test evidence

Write one specification sheet with the kVA, voltages, frequency, cooling method, vector group, tap range, impedance and tolerance, stated losses and fittings, then send that sheet to every candidate and ask each one to reply in the same shape. Making a transformer calls for core cutting, winding, drying, oil handling and high-voltage testing — plant and staff that a low-voltage panel shop simply does not have — so ask for evidence of the test bay and the laboratory accreditation scope for the type tests.⁵

Routine tests run on every unit and none is destructive: winding resistance, voltage ratio and phase displacement, no-load loss and current, load loss and impedance voltage, applied and induced voltage, insulation resistance and oil tests.⁵ Type tests prove a design and run on one unit of a design family, so the design reference, rating and date must match your order: temperature rise, lightning impulse, partial discharge and noise.⁵ Short-circuit withstand under IEC 60076-5 is destructive, so it runs on a sample of a design in a third-party laboratory, never on the unit delivered to site.⁵

Put the tolerances into the contract as numbers. IEC 60076-1 allows plus 15% on total losses and plus or minus 7.5% on short-circuit impedance, wider for the first unit of a new design, and a unit outside tolerance is a commercial claim, not a rounding difference.⁵ Before production, ask for outline drawings and a draft rating plate. Then check the papers: an Export Registration Certificate is required for every exporter in Bangladesh, and the commercial invoice has to carry its number and the HS code.⁶ The trade licence and export registration should show the same name, address and bank account, and pay only into the company account shown in the documents. Our general guide to importing power transformers from Bangladesh covers the same product with no destination attached.

Next steps on Exportain

Price your order on the worked example above, and confirm the duty, the IVA base and the origin proof with your broker. Then search Bangladeshi suppliers whose range covers your rating, and post an RFQ with the rating sheet, the code, the CE file and the test list attached. Our how to buy page walks through the steps once you have ordered.