Sending a package to Vanuatu: Customs, VAT and delivery time

Sending a package to Vanuatu: What companies should know before shipping

Vanuatu is located in the South Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and northeast of New Caledonia.

The island nation consists of an elongated archipelago.

The most important islands include:

• Efate
• Espiritu Santo
• Tanna
• Malekula
• pentecost
• ambrym
• Vanua Lava

The capital:

Port Villa

It is located on Efate.

The second largest city:

Luganville

It is located on Espiritu Santo.

This geographical structure is particularly important for shipping planning.

What documents do I need for Vanuatu?

Vanuatu Customs specifies the following for commercial customs clearance in particular:

• Commercial Invoices
• Packing List
• Freight Statement
• further cost breakdowns
• Bill of Lading or Air Waybill
• Cargo Manifest
• Import permit (if applicable)

Additionally, the following should be clearly stated for a B2B shipment:

• HS code
• precise product description
• cart value
• Origin of goods
• Weight
• Quantity

A commercial invoice should be used for a normal sale of goods.

For:

• free patterns
• Guaranteed deliveries
• Replacement goods free of charge
• Gifts

A pro forma invoice can be useful.

Even free goods require a realistic customs value.

You can find out more at How to correctly use a pro forma invoice at customs.

Which goods require an import license?

Not all goods can be imported without additional authorization.

Vanuatu distinguishes between:

• freely importable goods
• Restricted Goods
• Prohibited Goods

Permit requirements may exist, for example, for:

• animal products
• Plants and plant products
• certain foods
• Pesticides
• certain chemicals
• Medicinal products and controlled substances
• Weapons and ammunition
• certain vehicles
• protected animal and plant species

Especially with food, wood, plants and animal products, biosecurity checks should also be clarified before shipping.

How long does it take to send a package to Vanuatu?

DHL currently only lists the following for standard parcel shipping:

more than 30 working days.

No fixed upper limit is specified.

The current storage period is:

30 days.

This means that Vanuatu is one of the international destinations where standard shipping can take significantly longer.

The actual runtime can also be affected by:

• Customs clearance
• Transport links in the Pacific
• Weekends and holidays
• Weather conditions
• Recipient island
• local onward transport

For:

• urgent spare parts
• Production material
• high quality equipment
• medical supplies

Therefore, an express or air freight service should also be considered.

Which language should I use for the customs declaration?

DHL currently lists the following for Vanuatu:

• English
• French

as permitted languages.

Both languages ​​also play an important role in the country itself.

For international B2B shipments, a precise English product description is usually recommended.

Not:

“Spare parts”

but for example:

“Stainless steel replacement impeller for commercial water pump”

This means:

• Product Type
• Material
• Usage

directly recognizable.

Write the address for Vanuatu correctly

DHL requires Latin letters and Arabic numerals.

A business address can be structured as follows, for example:

ABC Engineering Ltd.
Rue de Paris
PORT VILA
EFATE
VANUATU

For a recipient on Espiritu Santo, for example:

XYZ Equipment Ltd.
Main Street
LUGANVILLE
HOLY SPIRIT
VANUATU

Additionally, the following should be considered if possible:

• Phone number
• Email address

be transmitted to the recipient.

In an island nation, these contact details are particularly important if a shipment needs to be handed over to a regional transport partner after import.

Port Vila is the most important import center.

Port Vila on Efate is the capital and most important trading center of the country.

There you will find:

• international seaport
• international Airport
• Post office customs office
• Customs Wharf Office
• electronic ASYCUDA clearance

This makes Port Vila a popular destination for a large part of the international:

• Packages
• Airfreight
• Containers
• Machine
• Pallets

the most important entry point.

For recipients on Efate, only a comparatively short inland route remains.

Luganville is the second major freight center

Luganville is located on:

Espiritu Santo.

Vanuatu Customs also has the following:

• Wharf Office
• Airport Customs
• electronic ASYCUDA clearance

For recipients on Santo and in the northern island regions, Luganville may therefore be logistically more sensible than importing via Port Vila.

For machinery or freight, the actual destination should be taken into account during route planning.

Other islands may require additional transport routes.

Vanuatu is not a single, compact island market.

For example, a package that has reached Port Vila is not automatically with a recipient:

• Tanna
• Malekula
• pentecost
• Vanua Lava

Depending on the destination, additional transport may be provided via:

• small plane
• Coastal vessel
• Ferry
• local vehicle

to be required.

For pallets, machinery and heavy goods, this last section is often much more relevant than for a normal package.

Customs works with risk channels

ASYCUDAWorld supports the risk selection of imports.

Customs distinguishes, among other things:

green lane

for directly approved registrations,

Yellow Lane

for document reviews and

Red lane

for physical goods inspections.

Vanuatu Customs currently specifies the following internal target times for processing:

• Green Lane: approximately 5 to 10 minutes
• Yellow Lane: maximum 2 days
• Red Lane: maximum 3 days

These times refer to the actual customs processing and not to the total international transport time.

Incomplete documentation may delay the release accordingly.

Small private mail items have a special exemption limit.

For certain items that:

• arrive by mail or air freight
• are intended solely for the personal use of the recipient
• have an FOB value of no more than 10.000 Vatu

A customs exemption may apply.

However, for normal commercial B2B shipments, this personal exemption limit should not be used as the basis for shipping cost calculations.

Vanuatu has not been an EBA country since 2025.

Vanuatu was already discovered on:

4 December 2020

downgraded from the group of Least Developed Countries by the United Nations.

A transitional period then applied to the European Everything But Arms system.

This ended:

on the 1. January 2025.

Since then, Vanuatu is no longer legally eligible for EBA benefits.

Older tables and individual overview pages may still list Vanuatu as an EBA country.

However, for a current customs assessment, the applicable EU legal basis should be taken into account.

EU-Pacific EPA: Accession decided, but not yet implemented

Vanuatu has joined:

EU-Pacific Interim Economic Partnership Agreement

applied for.

The negotiations were concluded and the Council of the European Union approved Vanuatu's accession in October 2025.

However, the planned internal steps and formal notifications are still required for actual implementation.

According to the current EU plan, the agreement for Vanuatu will therefore end in 2026:

not yet used.

The European Commission continues to describe accession as imminent.

For one delivery:

Germany → Vanuatu

Therefore, a general preference from the EU-Pacific EPA should not currently be expected.

Do I need a EUR.1 for Vanuatu?

Currently, a EUR.1 certificate should be sufficient for a normal German export to Vanuatu:

It cannot be automatically included as proof of preferential treatment to reduce customs duties.

Although Vanuatu's accession to the EU-Pacific EPA is politically and legally far advanced, it is not yet being practically implemented as things stand.

Once Vanuatu actually applies the EPO, the then-current rules of origin and proof procedures will apply.

For Pacific EPA states already participating, the procedure for EU exports was also changed to origin declarations from registered exporters as of September 1, 2026.

Therefore, it would be particularly unwise to now establish an old EUR.1 rule as the permanent standard text for Vanuatu.

Automate recurring export data

For regular deliveries to Vanuatu, product data should be maintained centrally.

These include:

• Product name
• HS code
• Origin of goods
• cart value
• Weight
• Package dimensions

This data can be directly transferred to the shipping process via shop and ERP connections.

This allows:

• Shipping label
• Commercial invoices
• customs data
• Tracking information

Create more consistent results.

You can find out more at Automate shipping documents and reduce errors.