Identifier structure (non-validating)

General structure pattern

In practice, an EORI number commonly includes:

• A two-letter country code associated with the issuing customs authority.
• A national unique identifier component (often derived from an existing national registration identifier).

The exact length, character set, and mapping to national identifiers may differ across administrations. Some implementations may be numeric only; others may include alphanumeric segments. This variability is documented in institutional implementation materials.

Important constraints

• Uniqueness: only one EORI number should be assigned per person in the EU customs territory.
• Persistence: EORI is intended as a stable identifier for customs registration contexts (subject to administrative maintenance rules).
• Context: identifiers may appear in multiple message types and systems; formatting requirements can differ by interface.

Data-quality considerations

• Normalisation: store and compare EORI values consistently (case, whitespace, separators).
• Country-prefix handling: treat the prefix as part of the identifier, not metadata to discard.
• Input validation vs. authority validation: internal syntactic checks are not a substitute for official confirmation.

What this page does not do

• No country-by-country format catalogue.
• No syntactic validator and no lookup.
• No statements that a given structure implies a real registration.