New €3 EU duty hits cheap online parcels

A €30 basket on Temu: a phone case, some earbuds, a T-shirt and a pair of sandals. Before last week, that order owed VAT but crossed the border duty-free. Since 1 July, each of those four product categories triggers a separate €3 customs charge, adding €12 before VAT and delivery fees are even counted (Le Figaro, Senior Actu). The cheaper the basket, the harder it bites.

The EU has scrapped its customs-duty exemption for parcels worth up to €150 shipped from outside the bloc. In its place: a flat €3 duty per product type in the shipment, which the European Commission describes as temporary until a broader customs overhaul arrives around 2028 (European Commission, Dutch Customs). The Commission does not name companies, but its description points squarely at high-volume non-EU platforms such as Shein, Temu and AliExpress, which built enormous European businesses by shipping directly from Chinese warehouses (fr.euronews, rp.pl).

The cost stack behind the checkout button

The new duty does not land alone. It sits on top of charges that already existed.

Start with VAT (the sales tax applied to goods in every EU country). Since 2021, import VAT applies to all parcels from outside the bloc, no matter how small. Platforms can collect it at checkout through a system called IOSS (Import One Stop Shop), or the carrier collects it at the doorstep (EU IOSS).

Then add the carrier's own handling fee for processing customs paperwork. In the Netherlands, PostNL charges €10 for standard customs handling, rising to €16 for goods needing extra declarations (PostNL). In Germany, Deutsche Post/DHL charges €7.50 per customs-liable shipment (Haufe).

So the real price is a stack: product, shipping, VAT, the new €3-per-category duty, and a handling fee if the platform didn't settle everything upfront. Five T-shirts count as one product type, so one €3 charge. T-shirts plus a watch: two charges. T-shirts, a watch, shoes and a toy: four (European Commission, Law Society of Ireland). Mixed baskets of cheap items are the most exposed.

PostNL's advice to Dutch shoppers captures the transparency gap: check whether "All duties included" appears at checkout, because if it doesn't, the bill arrives with the parcel (PostNL).

Who pays, who gains

The fairness logic is real. EU retailers operate inside a full tax and compliance environment. Non-EU platforms were shipping goods under a duty-free threshold designed for the occasional holiday souvenir, not for industrial-scale e-commerce. Germany's federal government frames the reform as levelling competition (Bundesregierung). German retail associations agree (Handelsblatt).

But a flat fee is regressive by design. The same €3 hurts a €5 gadget far more than a €100 jacket. No EU-wide data breaks down who buys these parcels by income group, but the likely burden falls on shoppers most dependent on ultra-low prices (biznes.wprost.pl).

And platforms are already adapting. Polish reporting shows Shein and Temu shifting goods into EU warehouses, importing in bulk and distributing from inside the bloc, which avoids the per-parcel duty entirely (polsatnews.pl). That move benefits European contract logistics (logistyka.rp.pl) but also preserves cheap consumer prices, which undercuts the reform's stated purpose.

The next question is national add-ons

Italy had planned its own €2 national charge on non-EU parcels but postponed it to October to avoid stacking with the EU duty (Il Fatto Quotidiano). France suspended a similar €2 levy when the EU charge took effect (Le Figaro). If governments revive their own parcel fees, shoppers will not face one EU rule. They will face a country-by-country stack of EU duty, VAT, carrier fees and national surcharges. The EU harmonised the customs charge. It has not harmonised what the shopper actually pays at the door.