High entry costs before the agreement
Official EU material repeatedly points to industrial categories facing significant duties before the agreement, including machinery and pharmaceutical products.
Immediate and gradual changes
The provisional application factsheet explains that machinery and appliances receive a first tariff cut from day one, then a progressive dismantling over ten years for most covered exports. Pharmaceuticals enter a similar path toward lower duties.
Why it matters for companies
Lower duties can improve margins, competitiveness and market testing capacity. But real success still depends on distribution, after-sales service, compliance, pricing and documentation.
The real issue for SMEs
For an SME, the real question isn’t whether a tariff drops, but whether the whole project holds together. A company selling machine tools can save thousands of euros in customs duties thanks to the agreement, and still lose the market if its local distributor doesn’t provide the expected after-sales service.