How to verify a supplier’s REX number (and what the result tells you)

You can check a supplier’s REX number for free on the European Commission’s REX validation page: enter the number, press Validate, and the page tells you whether the registration exists and from what date it is valid. It only shows the exporter’s name and address if the exporter agreed to publication. Do the check before you pay a deposit on anything priced “duty-free”, not after the goods arrive.

The Commission’s own REX guidance says EU importers should always verify statements on origin, and the registered exporters behind them, against the published REX data. Here is how we’d do it if we were on your side of the table.

Step 1: Get the number in writing

Ask the supplier for their REX number and a sample statement on origin on a proforma invoice. A registered exporter should be able to send both the same day. The statement is the text your broker will rely on, and the number inside it is the one to check. It should be the same number the supplier quoted you in email.

A REX number has three parts: the ISO country code (NP for Nepal), the letters REX, and a national identifier of up to 30 upper-case characters. A Nepali number therefore looks like NPREX followed by digits or letters. For example, NPREX0000000000, which is a made-up number for illustration only.

Step 2: Run the check

1. Open the REX number validation page on the European Commission’s website.
2. In the “Search on REX number” field, type or paste the number exactly, with no spaces.
3. Press Validate.

The same page also lets you search by the exporter’s TIN or EORI number. That is useful if a supplier has given you a tax ID but not the REX number itself.

Step 3: Read the result

What you see depends on a choice the exporter made when registering.

The Commission’s guidance is explicit that the anonymous subset is enough to verify the number’s validity. So a supplier that hasn’t consented to publication isn’t necessarily hiding anything. Many companies simply tick “no” on the form.

Three things to look at:

• Is it valid? A number that is “not found” or shows a revocation date before your shipment is a problem.
• Valid from when? A statement on origin must be made out while the registration is valid. If the goods ship before the “valid from” date, talk to your broker.
• Name and country. If the name is published, it should match the exporter on the invoice, which isn’t always the company you negotiated with (see red flags below). The country code should match the country the goods ship from.

If it doesn’t validate

Don’t panic, and don’t pay yet.

• Check for typos. Letter O and zero, I and 1, and dropped characters cause most failures.
• Ask the supplier for the registration confirmation their national authority issued, and re-check the exact string. In Nepal, registrations go through the Trade and Export Promotion Centre (TEPC).
• Allow for a recent registration. The public site is synchronised with the REX database and shows the date of the last update. A registration made in the last few days may not appear yet. Recheck before shipment.
• If it still fails, price without the preference. Until the number validates, assume the standard duty (around 12% on cotton knit tops) and decide whether the order still works.

Red flags

• The supplier won’t share the number until you’ve paid a deposit. The number isn’t secret, since it appears on every statement on origin the exporter issues.
• Wrong format. It doesn’t start with the right country code and “REX”, or it’s a local tax or export licence number presented as a REX number.
• Name mismatch. The published name is a different company from the one on the proforma. Sometimes this is legitimate, for example a buying house or trading company exporting on a factory’s behalf. In that case the exporter on the invoice is the one that has to be registered.
• “We’ll use Form A.” For Nepal, Form A stopped being accepted for EU preference after the transition ended on 30 June 2018. A supplier offering Form A for EU goods is out of date.
• No sample statement. A registered exporter should be able to show you the exact wording before bulk. If they can’t, ask why.

What a valid number does not prove

The check confirms the registration. It doesn’t confirm that your specific goods meet the rules of origin. For knit garments from least developed countries the EU applies single transformation, so cutting and sewing imported fabric into garments in Nepal is enough to qualify (see single vs double transformation). A registered exporter is still responsible for applying those rules correctly and keeping the records. If customs later verify origin, they’ll go back to the exporter, so choose one that can produce fabric invoices and production records.

Also check the statement wording itself. Our guide to statement on origin wording covers the common mistakes. For the bigger picture, what is a REX number explains the system from the start.

This isn’t legal advice. Your customs broker can confirm how the claim is entered in your member state.

Checking ours

We’re registered in REX. Confirm your business email on our REX Trust Centre and you’ll see our number straight away, with a link to check it on the Commission’s page. Then ask us for a proforma with the statement on origin already on it. Get in touch with your styles and quantities.