EU to add a €2 handling fee on non-EU parcels from 1 November 2026

What changes from 1 November

From 1 November 2026, a handling fee of €2 applies to parcels that reach the European Union from a third country in the course of distance sales, whatever the value of the goods. The fee is charged for each category of item in a parcel, so a package holding twenty caps owes €2, while one with three caps, four T-shirts and two belts owes €6 in total. It sits on top of the €3 duty that has applied since 1 July 2026 to small parcels worth less than €150. La Stampa adds that VAT is charged on top of the €2 fee.

Who pays and what shoppers may see

Marketplaces such as Amazon, Temu and AliExpress, along with sellers and intermediaries, must pay the fee, and the EU insists that European consumers will not be charged it directly. Retailers remain free to raise their prices, however, and some sites did exactly that to absorb the earlier €3 duty. Marcin Łoboda, deputy finance minister and head of Poland's customs and tax administration KAS, said the customs office where the declaration is lodged will collect the fee, in a way similar to the €3 duty. He also said the reform moves most customs obligations onto distance sellers and platforms, which must pass data to customs, settle the amounts due and ensure goods meet EU requirements. BEUC, the European consumer organisation, warns that some platforms may try to shift these costs onto shoppers at checkout, and SAPO reports that the total price should be shown before the purchase is completed.

Why Brussels is acting

About 5.9 billion small parcels entered the EU in 2025, more than 180 every second and four times the 2022 level, with 93% of them coming from China, usually through Shein, Temu and AliExpress. Since the €3 duty was imposed in July, imports have fallen by around 64%, although officials warn it is too early to draw firm conclusions. Portugal's consumer group DECO tested 162 products bought from Temu and Shein, including USB chargers, toys and jewellery, and found that 69% did not meet the applicable requirements and were considered potentially dangerous. The identified risks included fire, electric shock, choking and exposure to toxic chemicals, and separate tests on Temu products found non-compliance rates of up to 96%.

Italy's separate levy

Italy's own €2 contribution on low-cost parcels has slipped for a fourth time, to 1 January 2027, through an amendment to a decree on road haulage resources. La Stampa notes that the Italian charge is levied per shipment as an administrative charge without VAT, which makes it different from the EU fee. Expected revenue was 122.5 million euros in 2026 and 245 million in 2027, and the funding question remains unresolved. Without abolition, the paper warns, the stacked charges would amount to a triple levy on each item.

2026122.5

2027245

2026

122.5 EUR million

2027

245 EUR million

Data from the article text

What comes next

The €2 handling fee is permanent, while the €3 duty is a temporary measure in place until 1 July 2028, when standard product-specific customs tariffs will apply. The EU must reassess the handling fee every two years to keep it proportional to the cost of customs operations. The first charges arrive only weeks before the Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Christmas shopping peaks, so retailers and platforms will need to adjust their pricing and documentation quickly.