EU to Remove €150 Customs Duty Exemption in July 2026
The EU will remove the customs-duty exemption for e-commerce imports valued at up to €150 from July 1, 2026, introduce a temporary €3 duty per item, and plans to add a small-parcel handling fee.
What are the key facts?
- 1The EU will remove the €150 customs-duty exemption for e-commerce import parcels from July 1, 2026
- 2Online purchases valued at no more than €150 will incur a temporary €3 duty per item
- 3The temporary duty arrangement is expected to continue until July 1, 2028
- 4The EU plans to impose a uniform handling fee on small parcels entering the EU from November 1, 2026
What happened?
According to official EU information, the EU will remove the €150 customs-duty exemption for e-commerce import parcels from July 1, 2026, and impose a temporary €3 duty per item on online purchases valued at no more than €150. This temporary arrangement is expected to continue until July 1, 2028, after which it will gradually transition to the normal tariff system based on product categories and customs data. The EU also plans to impose a uniform handling fee on small parcels entering the EU from November 1, 2026, although the specific amount will be determined by a subsequent delegated act.
The new rules will require non-EU platforms, sellers or relevant carriers to assume more responsibility for import declarations, duty payments and product compliance. Violations may result in fines, loss of customs-facilitation eligibility or even market-access restrictions. Groups directly affected include DTC, independent-site, platform-direct-shipping and IOSS sellers from Japan, China, the United States and other non-EU regions, particularly those shipping low-priced goods individually to the EU. Sellers need to recalculate the landed cost of each parcel and evaluate EU warehouses, bulk imports and local-fulfillment options.
What does this mean for cross-border sellers?
From July 1, 2026, e-commerce import parcels valued at no more than €150 will incur a temporary €3 duty per item, directly affecting the landed cost and margins of low-priced goods shipped individually to the EU. Sellers must also manage greater responsibility for import declarations, duty payments and product compliance, and reassess direct shipping against EU warehousing, bulk imports and local fulfillment.
What should sellers do now?
- 1Create a landed-cost table for EU direct-shipping products, add the €3 temporary duty per item for parcels valued at no more than €150, separately list the handling fee as pending from November 1, 2026, and produce a direct-shipping cost checklist.HS duty estimate
- 2For low-priced, individually direct-shipped listings sent to the EU from Japan, China, the United States and other non-EU regions, calculate direct shipping, EU warehousing, bulk import and local-fulfillment options separately and create a comparison table.Profit calculator
- 3Before July 1, 2026, review the allocation of responsibility for import declarations, duty payments and product compliance for EU orders across DTC, independent-site, platform-direct-shipping and IOSS channels, and produce a responsibility checklist.