EU to impose €2 fee on all packages entering the bloc as of 1 November

The European Union will start charging a €2 handling fee on all packages entering the EU market as of Sunday, as cheap imports from China continue to surge.

A €3 duty already came into force in July on small parcels worth less than €150. However, that fee is temporary and will remain in place until 2028, when a new IT customs system becomes operational.

The new measures were deemed necessary as the EU faces a dramatic increase in low-cost imports from Chinese platforms such as Temu, Shein and AliExpress.

The new €2 fee, which comes into force on 1 November, will apply to all packages, regardless of their value, and will cover customs handling costs. It comes in addition to the €3 duty.

“The logic for the duty is the level playing field: all goods entering the EU should pay the due and justified amount of duty,” an EU official said. The official added: “The logic of the fee is to cover the costs of control, as e-commerce represents a disproportionate cost for our customs authority.”

The new fee will be paid by platforms, sellers or carriers and collected by the 27 EU member states. Of the money collected, 75% will go into the EU budget, while the remaining 25% will be retained by EU countries.

The €3 duty introduced in July has already had an impact on import volumes: Between July and September, the number of small parcels entering the bloc dropped by 60%, according to the European Commission. However, 5 million parcels still enter the EU market every day, the EU executive also said.

In 2024, 91% of those shipments came from China, posing fierce competition for European retailers.

Infringements of EU rules on products are also an issue, as the Commission proposed in September a legislation cracking down on imports of illegal products, particularly those sold through online marketplaces, by ensuring that an economic operator in the EU is always legally responsible for non-compliance.