en.Wedoany.com Reported - Starting July 1, 2026, the EU will impose a fixed customs duty of €3 per category on imported small parcels valued at no more than €150, ending the long-standing duty-free treatment for low-value parcels. This transitional arrangement will last until July 1, 2028, and is the first implemented outcome of the EU's customs reform launched in 2023.

According to EU Commission data, approximately 4.6 billion parcels valued under €150 entered the EU in 2024, with 91% originating from China; this figure rose to about 5.9 billion in 2025, roughly doubling annually since 2022. For Chinese cross-border e-commerce companies serving European consumers through direct shipping models, the €3 fixed customs duty has become a new cost threshold.

To clarify the legal context and practical implications of this policy, Professor Zhu Qiuyuan from the Customs Law Department of Shanghai Customs College and a council member of the EU Law Research Association of the Shanghai Law Society noted in an exclusive interview that the €3 fixed customs duty is a transitional arrangement within the EU's cross-border e-commerce tax reform, falling under the broader customs reform framework. The EU's complete cross-border e-commerce customs duty reform plan is to implement a "five-tier simplified tax system," applying rates of 0%, 5%, 8%, 12%, and 17% based on HS chapter classifications of goods. Due to the yet-to-be-completed supporting customs data center and the EU Customs Authority, the five-tier tax system is expected to be implementable only by 2028. If the data center cannot be operational by then, the EU Commission may propose extending the application period of the €3 temporary customs duty.

From a legislative perspective, in May 2023, the EU Commission proposed the most comprehensive customs reform since 1968. Faced with a surge in parcels and pressure from member states, the EU Council reached a political agreement in November 2025 to introduce the transitional duty early. In December 2025, the Economic and Financial Affairs Council finalized the €3 fixed rate. In February 2026, the Council adopted new regulations, and the relevant Council Regulation (EU) 2026/382 was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on April 30, taking effect on July 1.

Zhu Qiuyuan provided a legal characterization of three often-confused charges: the €3 fixed customs duty, import VAT, and the widely discussed "processing fee." The €3 transitional fixed customs duty is a tariff, an indirect tax, levied per customs tariff heading rather than per parcel; if a parcel contains multiple categories of goods, the duty is accumulated based on the number of tariff headings. Import VAT falls under the competence of member states, with each country setting its own tax rate, and the tax base includes both the value of the goods and the customs duty. The customs processing fee under discussion by the EU is an administrative charge aimed at covering the administrative processing costs of bulk customs clearance. Previously, the EU Commission proposed a fee of €2 per item, which could be reduced to approximately €0.5 if transited through EU warehouses, but the final fee standard has not yet been determined. Some member states have already begun collecting national-level small parcel processing fees; for example, France previously levied €2 per category based on HS commodity codes, which was suspended after the EU's €3 customs duty took effect on July 1, 2026. In terms of revenue attribution, both customs duties and processing fees are part of the EU's traditional own resources, with the majority belonging to the EU.

Regarding cost implementation, Zhu Qiuyuan explained that "remote sales" as defined by Article 14(4)(2) of the EU VAT Directive (2006/112) must simultaneously meet four conditions: supply by a taxable person to customers within the EU customs territory; transactions with individual or legal entity customers within the EU customs territory; goods located outside the EU customs territory at the time of supply; and dispatch or transport of the goods by or on behalf of the supplier to the customer. The fourth condition is broadly interpreted; even if the supplier is only indirectly involved in coordinating transport, outsourcing logistics, collecting shipping fees, recommending delivery services, or bearing delivery responsibilities, it falls within the scope of "supplier responsible for dispatch." Platform-based direct shipping models like Shein and Temu directly apply to the new regulations. For brand sellers with warehouses in Europe, if sales to EU consumers are completed before goods are stored in bonded warehouses, they still constitute remote sales; if goods are stored in bonded warehouses and then retailed to consumers, this violates EU customs regulations, requiring prior import declaration. Leveraging rules of origin or AEO certification to circumvent the €3 customs duty is challenging. The Chinese business community should focus on long-term planning, engaging in comprehensive coordination and management of rules of origin throughout the entire chain before and after going global.