EU €3 Parcel Duty Cuts Low-Value Imports as €2 Fee Arrives

Four months in, the parcel flood has slowed sharply

On 1 July 2026 the European Union ended its duty-free treatment of low-value imports. The early results show that the cheapest way to send goods from China to Europe has been badly damaged. The figures differ in size, but every measurement now available points the same way.

The headline number comes from EU officials. Since the €3 duty took effect, small-parcel imports have fallen by about 64%, though officials say it is still too early for firm conclusions58. Figures from individual countries and from freight data are in the same range. At Liège airport in Belgium, the main entry point for Chinese e-commerce goods, small-parcel volumes in July were 53% lower than a year earlier, according to Belgian customs25. Belgian broadcaster RTBF reported that arrivals of small Shein and Temu shipments at the airport had halved21. Dutch Customs counted about 70% fewer e-commerce declaration lines in August and September than in the same months of 20253. The consultancy Aevean found that low-value e-commerce air freight from China to the EU fell by half year on year in September3.

The lowest estimate comes from French customs, which put the overall fall in small-parcel imports to the EU at 30–40%21. Taken together, the measured volume of low-value parcels entering the bloc has dropped by somewhere between one-third and two-thirds. Most of the data cluster around half.

How the duty works, and why per-item pricing matters

The legal basis is Council Regulation (EU) 2026/382. It replaces the €150 duty exemption with a temporary flat duty of €3 on consignments worth up to €150, and it runs until 1 July 20281. The design detail that matters most is that the charge applies to each distinct product type in a parcel, not to each parcel. Product types are defined by six-digit tariff codes13. Ten identical pairs of socks cost €3, but five wool pairs and five cotton pairs count as two item types and cost €613. An order containing toys, a woollen coat and shampoo pays €920.

This structure is aimed squarely at the business model that de minimis made possible. According to the European Commission, almost 5.9 billion low-value items entered the EU in 2025. They made up about 97% of imported items by count but only 2.1% of import value, and 93% came from China7. The average small parcel was worth just €8.8614. When goods are that cheap, a fixed €3 charge is a large increase. One analysis notes that a €4 phone case almost doubles in landed cost, while the same charge barely matters on an €80 basket15. The Commission's own example has a €5 blouse rising to €825.

The exemption had become hard to defend. Low-value parcel traffic grew from about 1.4 billion items in 2022 to nearly 6 billion in 202526. Retail groups have long argued that most of these parcels were undervalued: a Greek confederation estimates about 65% are declared below their real worth14. The original plan was to remove the exemption in 2028 as part of the wider customs overhaul. EU finance ministers agreed in December 2025 to bring that forward because of growing concern about Chinese goods being dumped in Europe13.

Fewer parcels, but how much less buying?

The key question is whether Europeans are buying less or simply receiving goods by a different route. The evidence points to some of both. The rerouting effect is real but probably overstated.

The case for rerouting is strong. France introduced its own €2 levy on low-value imports in March 2026. Daily French customs declarations then fell from about 500,000 to roughly 50,000, but officials told the National Assembly that about 90% of that flow had simply been redirected through other EU countries, including Liège7. France dropped the levy on 1 July, when the EU-wide duty took over7. That episode is a reminder that a missing parcel does not always mean a missing purchase.

The platforms are also moving stock into Europe. Shein opened a logistics hub near Wrocław in 202521. Temu aims to ship 80% of its European sales from local warehouses24. Goods shipped by container and cleared as ordinary commercial imports are not charged per parcel, so the duty per item comes out lower than for individual low-value parcels22. One calculation estimates that a mixed order sent directly from China now costs about €19.50 to process, against about €10 for the same order sent from Dutch stock3. Amazon said 97% of its EU shipments were already sent from warehouses inside the bloc, which leaves it largely unaffected19.

Spending data show that rerouting does not explain everything. Germany's e-commerce association BEVH reported that Temu, Shein and AliExpress together saw third-quarter sales in Germany fall from €878 million to €566 million, a drop of 35.5%. Their share of German online retail fell from 5.3% to 3.1%22. In France, bank-transaction tracker Joko found that Temu volumes fell 50% between June and July, AliExpress 37% and Shein 15%24. Shein reported European revenue of $3.77 billion in the second quarter, down 13.9% year on year24.

The gap between platforms is telling. Temu was most dependent on shipping parcels direct from China and fell hardest. Shein, which had invested earlier in European logistics, fell least. On pricing, Temu began listing the duty as a separate line, while Shein raised its prices to absorb it21. AliExpress now includes duties in its displayed prices24.

This is a market shrinking at the bottom while it reorganises at the top. The impulse purchase of a cheap item, which only made sense with free direct shipping, appears to have suffered most. The German association suggested that some shoppers had been buying things they did not need simply because they were very cheap22. EU retailers have not yet clearly benefited from the platforms' losses22.

The €2 handling fee raises the cost again from 1 November

An EU handling fee of €2 takes effect on 1 November. It was created under the new Union Customs Code, and its amount was set by a Commission delegated act adopted on 21 September1. It differs from the duty in two ways. It has no value ceiling, so it also applies to distance sales above €150. It is also permanent, while the €3 duty expires in mid-202815. The Commission must review the amount every two years9.

Coverage of how the fee is counted has been inconsistent. Some guidance for sellers described it as a charge per parcel24. More recent reporting, including an example from Ireland's Revenue Commissioners, says it is charged per tariff heading, just like the duty6. Under that approach, a parcel with ten T-shirts pays €2, while one with ten T-shirts and two hats pays €48. The per-heading reading is the better supported. If it holds, a three-category order would carry €15 in duty and fees before VAT28. Import VAT is also calculated on the goods value plus duty, which adds slightly to the bill4.

Who pays is also disputed. Brussels says consumers will not pay the handling fee and that marketplaces, sellers and intermediaries are liable8. Separate reforms have also made major platforms the deemed importer, with fines of up to 6% of EU sales possible29. Reporting on the cost still expects most of it to reach shoppers through prices1928. European consumer group BEUC has warned that postal and delivery firms must not charge the fee to buyers after the sale27. In practice, the legal liability rests with the platforms, while the economic cost seems likely to land mostly on shoppers.

What comes next

The EU is not stopping at €5. An internal Commission working paper reported in September looked at scenarios for raising per-parcel charges as high as €10. The regulation also requires the Commission to assess every month, starting no later than 1 October, whether the duty is diverting trade flows. Member states have added their own charges. Romania applies a logistics tax of about €5 per parcel2. France has introduced a separate eco-levy on ultra-fast fashion, expected to approach €20 per item by 203021.

The long-term plan is for the flat duty to end once the EU Customs Data Hub goes live in mid-2028. Low-value goods would then pay normal tariffs based on product classification and origin219. Retailers have raised doubts about whether customs can reliably count product categories across billions of parcels. One Greek trade official fears that everything will simply be waved through at the €3 rate whatever the contents14.

On balance, the €3 duty has done what it was designed to do. It has ended the cost advantage of shipping single items direct from China and pushed platforms toward bulk imports and European warehouses, where goods are easier to inspect and tax. Whether that leads to safer products and fairer competition, or just the same cheap goods sold at slightly higher prices from warehouses in Poland and the Netherlands, is still open7. The €2 fee, arriving just before Black Friday, will be the next test5.