European Union finance ministers have agreed to introduce a fixed €3 customs duty on small consignments valued under €150 entering the bloc, a move aimed at slowing the surge of ultra-cheap e-commerce imports tied to platforms like Shein and Temu.
The measure is set to start on 1 July 2026 and will be used as a stopgap while the EU moves toward a broader customs overhaul that would fully end the current relief threshold for low-value parcels.
What the €3 duty covers
Under the Council agreement, the €3 charge applies to goods entering the EU in small consignments under €150, largely via e-commerce. The Council says the temporary duty responds to concerns about unfair competition, consumer health and safety risks, fraud, and environmental impacts linked to today’s high-volume, low-value parcel flows.
In practice, the duty is designed to apply broadly: it will cover goods where non-EU sellers are registered in the EU’s Import One-Stop Shop (IOSS) for VAT purposes—an area the Council says accounts for about 93% of all e-commerce flows into the EU.
How it’s calculated
Rather than charging once per package, the EU plans to apply the duty to each different item in a shipment, based on tariff headings. In other words, a parcel containing multiple product types can rack up multiple €3 charges if the items fall under different classifications.
Why the EU is moving faster
Low-value parcel volumes have become politically hard to ignore. EU customs processed around 4.6 billion low-value e-commerce packages in 2024, and officials say the vast majority originated in China—a flood that retailers argue distorts competition with EU-based sellers.
The EU has also pointed to compliance challenges at scale. In a related push earlier this year, the European Commission floated a separate idea: a €2 “handling fee” to help fund checks and enforcement on the massive number of parcels entering the EU (with a lower fee for goods shipped from warehouses inside the bloc).
What happens next
The €3 duty is framed as temporary—a bridge toward the EU’s longer-term plan to eliminate the €150 customs-duty relief threshold once the bloc’s upgraded customs infrastructure is in place. The Council has previously said the long-term rule would apply when the planned EU customs data hub becomes operational, which it currently expects in 2028.
Meanwhile, pressure is building to ensure the interim step is strong enough to change behavior. Irish MEP Barry Andrews, who had argued for a higher levy, welcomed the €3 agreement and suggested it should be increased if it doesn’t meaningfully slow the flow of cheap deliveries.