De Minimis Imports: US Rules and EU €3 Duty Reshape Small Parcels

Duty-free small parcels are gone in both markets

In 2026 the two largest consumer markets in the West both stopped letting low-value parcels in duty-free. In the United States, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) published two interim final rules on June 24, 2026. They suspend the $800 de minimis exemption under 19 U.S.C. § 1321 indefinitely. One rule covers the international postal network and the other covers air cargo, express couriers, ocean freight and trucks.2122 One week later, on July 1, 2026, the European Union dropped its €150 customs duty exemption. In its place is a temporary €3 duty on each item in low-value parcels shipped from outside the bloc.111

Both governments give the same reasons: fraud, unsafe goods and unfair competition. The details still differ a lot, and a seller shipping to both markets now faces two different compliance regimes. One deadline is very close. CBP gave certain mail shipments a delayed compliance date of October 22, 2026, which is less than a week away.23

What the US rules actually do

The June rules turn a series of executive actions into permanent regulation. Duty-free treatment for low-value goods from China and Hong Kong ended on May 2, 2025. It ended for all countries on August 29, 2025, under Executive Order 14324.28 When the IEEPA tariffs were struck down, Executive Order 14388 kept the suspension going from February 24, 2026.28 CBP's June rules then rest on the agency's own authority under 19 U.S.C. 1321(b), not on IEEPA. That makes the suspension much harder to challenge in court.28

In the Federal Register, CBP gives three separate reasons for the suspension: the statute's purpose, the need to protect revenue, and the need to stop unlawful imports. It states that any one of them, alone or combined, is enough to justify it.22 Because each reason stands on its own, the rule should survive even if a court rejects one of them. The suspension stays in place until CBP decides the exemption no longer harms revenue or helps unlawful imports. BDO advises importers to expect it to last a long time.25 It also has a fixed end date: a 2025 statute, Public Law 119-21, ends the exemption outright on July 1, 2027.28

The main effect is paperwork. Entry Type 86, the streamlined filing built for de minimis parcels, can no longer be used for goods that used to qualify.21 Shipments now go through Entry Type 11, the informal entry for goods worth $2,500 or less, or Entry Type 01, the formal entry. Both require an HTS classification, a declared value and a country of origin.21 Mail has its own track. The postal rule took effect July 24, 2026. It creates a postal informal entry, and CBP officers no longer fill in the entry forms themselves.28 CBP also began testing an electronic informal mail entry, Entry Type 13, on September 22, 2026.28 Exceptions are narrow: genuine gifts worth $100 or less still enter duty-free, as do certain personal items carried by travelers.24

The scale of the change

The numbers explain why Washington moved. One analysis says 1.36 billion de minimis parcels entered the US duty-free in fiscal 2024, up from 636 million in 2020. It also reports that CBP collected more than $1 billion in duties on over 246 million shipments in the months after the exemption ended.29 The same source says seizures of unsafe or non-compliant low-value goods rose about 82% after the China exemption closed.29 CBP Commissioner Rodney S. Scott said billions of parcels had arrived without enough information, and that the rules close that loophole.24

Some guidance about what these parcels now pay has not kept up. One guide from May said every former de minimis import was subject to the 10% Section 122 surcharge.26 A July analysis described that surcharge as running only through July 23 and gone afterward. The duty on a given parcel depends on its classification and origin, plus any Section 301 or 232 tariffs.28 Importers should check current rates rather than rely on older summaries.

Europe's €3 bridge to a full overhaul

The EU's approach is less sweeping, but its pricing is more creative. Council Regulation (EU) 2026/382 removes the threshold-based duty relief. From July 1, 2026, until July 1, 2028, it charges €3 per item in consignments worth €150 or less.12 "Per item" means each different tariff classification, not each unit. The Commission's example: five T-shirts cost €3, while three T-shirts and a watch cost €6.11 Guidance for automated systems puts it as the number of declaration lines multiplied by €3.12

The flat rate is meant as a temporary measure. Brussels says that once the EU Customs Data Hub is fully running, normal customs duties will apply from the first euro of value.13 The Council expects that around 2028.5 Political pressure set the timing. France and the Netherlands had signalled their own national charges, and the Commission wanted to avoid a different system in each country.15 The Council says the duty reaches goods from non-EU sellers registered in the Import One-Stop Shop (IOSS), which it says covers 93% of e-commerce flows into the EU.14

The volumes are larger than in the US. About 4.6 billion parcels under €150 entered the EU in 2024, and around 91% of them came from China.10

The new Union Customs Code adds a second charge

The EU change comes in two stages. The recast Union Customs Code, Regulation (EU) 2026/2108, was approved by the Council on September 3 and the Parliament on September 16. It was published in the Official Journal on September 19, 2026.6 It creates a new Customs Authority based in Lille and a shared Customs Data Hub. It also adds an EU-wide handling fee on small parcels, due by November 1, 2026.9 The Commission says the fee is meant to cover what customs authorities spend on data checks, risk analysis and inspections.1 The reform also makes online platforms the importers for distance sales.1

Coverage of the handling fee disagrees on the details. Trade publisher VATCalc says it is €2 on parcels valued below €150.2 Logistics firm nShift reads Article 20 differently: €2 per item, with no value ceiling, applied above €150 as well, and lasting beyond the €3 duty's 2028 end date.6 Other guides describe it as roughly €2 per parcel or per consignment.710 A September analysis said the amount had not yet been set and would come from the Commission.9 Per item and per parcel lead to very different costs for a mixed basket. In my view, sellers should plan for the more expensive reading, a per-item fee on all distance sales, until the delegated act settles it.

National fees are being added on top. Romania began charging a 25-lei logistics tax on non-EU parcels under €150 on January 1, 2026. Italy added a €2 customs administration fee from October 1, 2026, collected from the recipient.8 For now, the single market has an EU duty, an EU fee on the way, and separate national charges on top.

Who pays, and how

The coverage also differs on how the €3 is collected. The Commission says the seller or importer declares and pays it.11 nShift says it falls on the declarant whatever VAT scheme the seller uses.6 Cross-border tax service EAS reports that under Commission guidance the carrier pays the duty to customs and invoices the merchant. EAS says the duty is not collected through IOSS.19 Customs advisory Gerlach expects the cost to end up with consumers.13 These accounts fit together: the carrier or declarant pays at the border and passes the cost back to the seller, who builds it into prices. Everyone agrees IOSS still exists and still handles VAT only.1220

The scope is not fully clear either. One compliance site says commercial shipments under €150 from non-IOSS sellers pay standard tariff rates instead of the flat €3. It also says genuine private consignments remain exempt.7 Royal Mail says private (C2C) parcels worth €45 or less stay exempt.8 UK sellers have a further problem: the H7 declaration format used for IOSS cannot yet record preferential origin. As a result, UK-made goods pay the flat €3 like everything else for now.16

The take: a global shift that rewards stocking goods locally

The two systems differ, but they lead to the same result. The US now requires a full customs entry for every parcel. The EU charges a flat duty per tariff line and adds a handling fee on top. Either way, the cost of shipping one small order across a border has gone up, and the cost of importing in bulk has not.

Brands that already import in bulk feel little of this. Advisers note that UK sellers using Amazon FBA already clear standard duties on bulk shipments. Sellers shipping individual parcels direct to customers through platforms like Shopify are hit hardest.15 Some advisers now promote bulk imports through the Netherlands, so many small parcels clear as a single customs entry.17

In practice, the steps are the same on both sides of the Atlantic. Get HS codes right, because in Europe each separate tariff line costs another €3 and in the US every parcel now needs a classification.1321 Check landed-cost pricing order by order. Treat customs data as part of the core business. The low-value exemption was built for a time when small parcels were rare. With billions now arriving each year, both the US and the EU have decided it no longer works.