The European Council reached an agreement to introduce a 3 euro tax on parcels from outside the EU with a value of less than 150 euros. This is in response to competition from cheap Chinese retailers such as AliExpress, Temu, and Shein, which retailers consider “unfair.”
Temporary measure
The European member states have agreed to levy a 3 euro charge on every parcel worth up to 150 euros from July 2026. This charge will be collected by the national customs authorities. Until now, parcels worth up to 150 euros could be imported into the EU free of customs duties, although Belgium, the Netherlands, and France, among others, had already announced the introduction of a 2 euro “handling fee.”
The new levy is temporary, as in the future all goods imported into the EU will be subject to customs duties from the first euro. In November, the EU member states agreed to abolish the current exemption limit of 150 euros, a regulation that will only come into force in 2028, when a digital platform for handling and control is also due to be launched.
According to the European Commission, approximately 12 million parcels arrived in the EU every day in 2024. An estimated 65% of parcels are deliberately undervalued in customs declarations in order to take advantage of the exemption.
