EU introduces duty on parcels from China (and beyond). New rules from 1 July 2026.
From 1 July 2026, the European Union will impose new temporary customs duties on all parcels worth less than EUR 150 from third countries. In this way, the Community wants to curb the massive influx of cheap goods and balance the competition between local distributors and Asian e-commerce platforms. In parallel, the EU is working on a larger reform package that will comprehensively regulate customs duties on small parcels.
Customs duty on parcels from China - amount and calculation rules
12 December 2025. The Council of the EU has decided that from 1 July 2026, all small consignments originating from third countries and addressed to consignees in the European Union will be subject to a fixed tariff of EUR 3. The new regulations will cover so-called small consignments, i.e. parcels with a value of less than EUR 150, which have so far benefited from customs exemptions.
The new solution applies only to shipments shipped to the EU by non-EU sellers, who are registered in the EU's Import One-Stop Shop (IOSS) system, which is used to handle imports, mainly VAT settlements. According to the EU Council, this mechanism will cover approximately 93% of all e-commerce flows coming into the Union, making it a very broad-based solution.
The new duty of EUR 3 will not replace VAT and will not affect the rules for charging and collecting it. It will be a separate duty which will is intended to partially level the playing field between EU and non-EU sellers, hitherto enjoying privileged market access.
It is worth emphasising that the new duty is also not a so-called handling or administrative fee, which is sometimes discussed in the context of the reform of the EU customs system and the financing of consignment handling. The EUR 3 rate introduced is a fully-fledged import duty, based on the provisions of EU customs law.
Transitional solution until full customs reform in the EU
Introduction of EUR 3 customs duties are temporary in nature - they will remain in force until the EU customs target system is implemented, It is intended to completely remove the duty-free threshold for consignments with a declared value of less than €150 and to facilitate the work of Member States' customs authorities. A key element of the system will be the EU Customs Data Centre - a central platform to calculate and enforce customs duties for all small consignments entering the EU.
Pending the implementation of the new regulations, the EC has committed to carry out regular assessments of the functioning of the customs duty system on small consignments, including considering the appropriateness of extending the tariff also to consignments from traders not registered in the IOSS.
Why has the EU decided on a new duty?
It was intended that new customs duties covering shipments of less than EUR 150 would not be introduced until 2028. Under pressure from the representatives of the Member States, including French Economy Minister Roland Lescure and Italian Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti, the Council nevertheless decided to end the exemption early and impose provisional tariffs as early as 2026.
The hitherto existing duty exemption for consignments up to a value of EUR 150 has, according to the EU institutions, been the source of many systemic problems. Among the most frequently cited are:
- unfair competition towards EU sellers and manufacturers,
- risks to consumer health and safety,
- high level of customs fraud, including the undervaluation of goods,
- negative impact on the environment, related to the mass splitting of shipments into individual parcels.
The need to include small shipments in tariffs is also supported by hard data - according to the EC, in 2024. 4.6 billion parcels with a declared value of less than EUR 150 entered the EU, which amounts to approximately 12 million parcels per day. This is twice as many as in 2023 and three times as many as in 2022.[i] According to experts, the value of up to 65% of such parcels is deliberately undervalued to avoid customs duties. In addition, recently as many as 91% of e-commerce parcels worth less than €150 originated from China, illustrating the scale of the phenomenon.
In the face of these threats to the domestic economy, some Member States were considering introducing their own levies on low-value parcels originating from outside the Community. At the end of 2025, the Italian government announced the establishment of an additional charge of €2 levied on each consignment worth less than €150. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni indicated that the new levy was intended to increase budget revenues and counteract the flooding of the market with cheap products from foreign e-commerce platforms. According to Italian estimates, the levy was expected to generate €122.5 million for the state budget in 2026 and up to €245 million per year from 2027.
Small shipments, big threat - the Union has no time to waste
The actions of the EU and Member States clearly show that small e-commerce shipments are no longer treated as a marginal element of international trade. With billions of parcels per year, they pose a real challenge to the Community customs system, environmental protection and fair competition.
The temporary duty of €3, which will take effect in 2026, is the first step towards a full inclusion of all goods imported into the EU under uniform customs rules - regardless of their value.
Sources:
- Customs: Council agrees to levy customs duty on small parcels as of 1 July 2026, https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2025/12/12/customs-council-agrees-to-levy-customs-duty-on-small-parcels-as-of-1-july-2026/
[i] Chamber of the Electronic Economy, Report: Chinese e-commerce platforms and the Polish economy, https://eizba.pl/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Raport-e-Izby-Chinskie-platformy-e-commerce-a-polska-gospodarka.pdf