The European Union imposed a €3 customs duty on low-value online imports

The European Union has ended its long-standing customs duty exemption for low-value imports and, as of July 1, is charging a temporary €3 customs duty on goods worth €150 or less that enter the bloc from outside the EU through distance sales, including online purchases sent to consumers.

The change was set out in Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/1022, published in the Official Journal this week, and works alongside other EU measures that took effect on the same date to put the new system into operation. The temporary charge will remain in place until July 1, 2028. After that, normal customs duties are due to apply based on the type of product.

The measure replaces the duty-free treatment that had applied through June 30 for low-value consignments. According to the Baker McKenzie Global Import Blog, the €3 charge applies per item as defined by tariff classification, not per parcel and not simply by the number of physical units in a box. That means a shipment containing several identical products may trigger one charge, while a parcel with different categories of goods may trigger several.

French government guidance published by Service Public described the same principle with examples. A parcel containing two toys, one coat and two bottles of perfume would face €9 in customs duty because it includes three product categories. A parcel with three T-shirts and one pair of shoes would face €6 because it includes two categories.

The new duty covers goods in consignments valued at up to €150 that are sold through distance sales by non-EU merchants to buyers in the EU. It applies regardless of the VAT collection method, including the Import One-Stop Shop, known as IOSS, special arrangements or standard VAT procedures. Baker McKenzie said the measure broadly affects goods entering the EU for which non-EU sellers are registered under IOSS and could cover about 93% of e-commerce flows into the bloc.

There are some exceptions. Goods that benefit from preferential trade agreements or customs union arrangements may be excluded in certain cases. The legal treatment also depends on how VAT is collected and how goods are declared to customs.

Responsibility for paying the duty generally falls on the declarant, meaning the seller, importer or their indirect customs representative. French authorities said platforms and sellers shipping goods into the EU through distance sales are expected to pay these new duties. Consumers would be directly liable only in limited situations, according to Baker McKenzie, mainly where a member state offers a free web-based declaration system for private individuals.

The EU is also adding new reporting requirements tied to traceability. Product identifiers will become mandatory from November 1, 2026, though businesses can begin declaring them voluntarily now. The aim is to help customs authorities identify and stop unsafe or non-compliant goods more effectively.

The move comes as EU institutions respond to a sharp rise in small parcels entering the bloc through cross-border e-commerce. French government guidance cited earlier statements from the Council of the European Union saying low-value shipments had created unfair competition for EU sellers and raised environmental concerns. The French notice also said France’s own national tax on small imported parcels, introduced on March 1, has been suspended from July 1 because the new EU-wide customs duty is now in force.

A separate EU handling fee for small e-commerce shipments is still under discussion and is not part of the €3 customs duty now being collected. Baker McKenzie said that proposed fee belongs to a broader customs reform package and should not be confused with the temporary flat-rate duty already in effect. French authorities said such a management fee is expected from November 1, 2026, but its detailed terms have yet to be finalized.

For the drinks business, the change could matter most in direct-to-consumer online sales from outside the EU. Small shipments of wine, spirits or other beverages sold through e-commerce may now face higher customs costs and more compliance steps when entering European markets. That could affect pricing for low-value orders and add complexity for overseas producers and retailers trying to reach EU consumers one parcel at a time.

The practical impact may vary by product mix inside each shipment. Because the duty is tied to tariff classification, mixed orders can generate more than one €3 charge even when their total value stays below €150. For beverage sellers that bundle wine with accessories or combine different types of drink products in one order, customs treatment may become more complicated than under the previous exemption.

The new rules mark a significant shift for importers that built their consumer sales models around low-value parcel traffic into Europe. For online merchants outside the bloc, including smaller beverage brands using e-commerce to test demand in EU markets, the end of duty-free entry for these consignments changes both landed cost calculations and customs administration from this month onward.