What You Cannot Ship to Taiwan: Restricted and Prohibited

Tax problems get resolved by paying. Document problems often get resolved by supplying the document. This category resolves in neither way — goods stopped under these rules leave only two outcomes, and return freight on a low-value parcel usually costs more than abandoning it.

Last updated:2026-08

Six categories express courier cannot carry

Category	Note
Prohibited imports	Specified by law as not importable
Controlled items	Require approval, or are barred
Goods infringing intellectual property	Counterfeits
Fresh agricultural, fishery and livestock products	Including processed meat
Live plants and animals	Living specimens
Protected wildlife and their products	CITES-listed

What these six share is that being stopped is terminal. Tax can be paid; documents can often be supplied; these leave only return or disposal by Customs.

The authority is Article 6 of the Air Express Consignment Clearance Regulations (空運快遞貨物通關辦法), which also caps express consignments at 70kg gross per piece.

Ranked by how often they are actually stopped

Food with animal content

The most frequently stopped category, and the one most people do not realise they have violated.

Processing does not help. Shelf-stable dried meat floss, cured sausage and vacuum-packed meat all remain within animal quarantine scope. So do many products where meat is an ingredient rather than the product — certain instant noodles and soup bases among them.

Goods stopped on these grounds are returned or destroyed.

Fresh produce and seeds

Fresh fruit, vegetables and seeds fall within plant quarantine. Live plants are excluded from express consignment entirely — the question of whether they could be inspected never arises, because they cannot be sent by that route.

Seeds are the sub-category most often sent unknowingly, frequently as a gift or a small add-on to another order.

Counterfeits

Goods suspected of infringing a registered trademark are detained and handled under the Customs procedure involving the rights holder.

There is no personal-use allowance here. Quantity does not affect the outcome, and the consignee is not in a position to resolve it directly.

Exotic leather

Premium brands use CITES-listed materials in some product lines, and overseas sellers rarely mention Taiwan's requirements.

The item is genuine and legally sold in its own market. Crocodile, python and certain other skins require CITES documentation, and without it the goods are stopped. A handbag with an exotic-leather trim on an otherwise ordinary product is the pattern that catches buyers.

Controlled items

A broad category covering goods that require approval to import. What it contains varies, and the practical difficulty is that the requirement is not obvious from the product itself — this is why checking before ordering matters more than any recovery route.

Mainland-origin goods have an extra layer

Beyond the six categories above, goods of mainland Chinese origin are subject to a separate permitted-import regime. Certain agricultural products, meat products and some traditional medicine ingredients are either not permitted or permitted only on conditions.

Being purchasable on a mainland platform says nothing about admissibility in Taiwan. See Shipping from mainland China to Taiwan.

The economics of a refused parcel

Storage accrues from the moment a parcel stops moving, and return freight is normally borne by the consignee.

For a low-value consignment, abandoning it is frequently cheaper than returning it. A NT$800 food parcel can accumulate storage plus return freight several times its value while the buyer pursues an outcome that does not exist.

Deciding quickly is worth more than being right. See Parcel held at Taiwan Customs for distinguishing the resolvable causes from these.

Before you order

1. Anything with animal content — assume it is restricted until verified
2. Anything living, or seeds — cannot travel by express courier
3. Exotic leather trims — check the material, not the brand
4. Deeply discounted branded goods — the price is often the signal
5. Mainland-origin food and medicine ingredients — check the separate control layer

How to check before ordering

There is no single lookup that answers "can I import this," which is why the practical approach is elimination rather than confirmation.

Start with what the product contains, not what it is called. A soup base is a food product; a soup base containing meat extract is an animal quarantine question. A handbag is leather goods; a handbag with a python trim is a CITES question. The controlled element is usually a component rather than the product.

Check the four high-frequency triggers first. Animal content, plant or seed content, exotic leather, and brand-plus-low-price. These four account for most personal-import refusals, and each is answerable from the product description in a minute.

Where the answer is unclear, treat it as restricted. The cost of not ordering is the price of the item. The cost of ordering wrongly is the item plus storage plus return freight, and the item is lost either way.

For anything you intend to sell, verify before buying rather than before shipping. A refused consignment on a commercial order is not only a lost shipment — the underlying question of whether the goods can be sold at all remains unanswered. See Personal use versus commercial import.

Restricted is not the same as needing approval

Two categories get conflated, and the distinction determines whether there is anything to be done.

	Cannot enter	Needs prior approval
Examples	Fresh meat, live plants, counterfeits	Wireless devices, chargers, cosmetics
Before ordering	No route exists	Approval can be arranged
After arrival	Return or disposal	Return — approval is prior
Fixable	Never	Only in advance

Both end the same way if discovered at Customs, which is why the practical advice is identical. But they differ entirely at the planning stage: one is a permanent bar, the other is a step you can take in the right order. Goods needing prior approval are covered in Importing phones and laptops.

Further reading

For the general rules on overseas purchases, see Shopping overseas and importing to Taiwan. For the goods that are permitted but need prior approval, see Importing phones and laptops. For the tax on what does clear, see the Taiwan import tax guide.

Primary sources: Air Express Consignment Clearance Regulations (空運快遞貨物通關辦法) and Customs Act (關稅法).

Frequently asked questions

What cannot be sent to Taiwan by express courier?

Six categories: prohibited imports, controlled items, goods infringing intellectual property, fresh agricultural fishery and livestock products, live plants and animals, and protected wildlife and their products. These are excluded from the express consignment rules entirely.

Can I fix it after the parcel arrives?

No. Unlike tax, which can be paid, or documents, which can sometimes be supplied later, these categories leave only return or disposal by Customs. Return freight is normally borne by the consignee.

Does processing change whether food is restricted?

No. Processing does not remove goods from animal quarantine scope. Shelf-stable dried meat products remain within it, which is why they are among the most frequently stopped items.

Is there a small-quantity personal allowance for these?

No. Unlike some regulated products where limited personal quantities are released, these categories have no personal-use allowance. Quantity does not affect the outcome.

Why would a luxury handbag be stopped?

Exotic leather trims. Premium brands use materials from CITES-listed species in some lines, and overseas sellers rarely flag Taiwan's requirements. The item is genuine, but the material is controlled.