For over a decade, the European e-commerce market has been shaped by a massive loophole: the "de minimis" threshold. This rule allowed parcels valued under €150 to enter the European Union free of customs duties, fueling the meteoric rise of ultra-fast fashion and discount marketplaces like Shein, Temu, and AliExpress.
That era is officially ending. In a landmark decision finance ministers from the 27 EU member states have agreed to impose a €3 flat customs duty on all small parcels imported from outside the bloc. Effective July 1, 2026, this new "head tax" is designed to level the playing field for European retailers and stem the overwhelming tide of low-value shipments flooding the continent.
The Mechanics of the €3 Duty
The new regulation essentially deletes the concept of "duty-free" for small imports. Currently, if a European consumer buys a €10 t-shirt from China, they pay VAT (a change introduced in 2021) but zero customs duties. Under the new system, that same package will incur an automatic €3 surcharge on top of the VAT and the product price.
Crucially, the tax structure is designed to prevent gaming the system. The €3 duty applies per item category within a parcel. If a customer orders five identical t-shirts in one package, the fee is likely applied once for that category. However, if the package contains a t-shirt, a pair of sunglasses, and a watch (three distinct categories), the duties could stack, significantly increasing the landed cost of the order. This removes the incentive for sellers to split orders into tiny individual shipments to avoid taxes—a practice that has clogged European customs for years.
The catalyst for this decision is sheer volume. In 2024 alone, approximately 4.6 billion small parcels entered the EU—an average of 145 parcels every single second. 91% of these shipments originated from China.
European officials argue that this volume has become unmanageable for customs authorities, who cannot effectively screen millions of daily packages for safety standards or illicit goods. By imposing a flat fee, the EU aims to achieve two goals: protecting local retailers who cannot compete with duty-free foreign pricing, and forcing high-volume platforms to consolidate their logistics rather than shipping billions of individual poly mailers by air.
The "Handling Fee" Wildcard
The financial pain for importers might not stop at €3. The European Commission is simultaneously discussing a separate mandatory handling fee (proposed at roughly €2) to cover the administrative costs of processing these millions of declarations.
While the €3 duty is an EU-wide consensus, individual nations are already losing patience and implementing their own aggressive measures. Romania, for instance, has already moved to impose a €5 fee on small parcels starting as early as January 2026. This creates a complex patchwork of costs that cross-border sellers must navigate until the unified EU Customs Data Hub comes online in 2028 to standardize the process.
The Pivot to Local Warehousing
For international sellers and dropshippers, this policy is a signal that the "direct-from-China" fulfillment model is becoming obsolete. The combined cost of the €3 duty, potential handling fees, and VAT will erode the price advantage of cheap goods. A €5 phone case shipped from Shenzhen will suddenly cost the consumer €10 or more, destroying the value proposition.
The strategic counter-move is clear: bulk importation. By importing inventory in bulk containers to a European warehouse, sellers pay standard customs duties on the wholesale value of the goods—which is often far lower per unit than the €3 flat tax on individual consumer parcels. Once the goods are inside the EU borders, they can be shipped to customers duty-free, preserving margins and delivery speed.
15 Dec, 2025
