From 1 July 2026, the EU will levy a charge on small parcels entering the bloc, with ecommerce platforms such as Temu and Shein expected to be most affected.
EU countries agreed on Friday to impose a €3 tax on all parcels under €150 entering the bloc, an attempt to curb the growing dominance of Chinese e-commerce platforms such as Temu and Shein which sell billions of low-cost items on the EU market.
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"With e-commerce expanding rapidly, the world is changing fast – and we need the right tools to keep pace," EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič said.
"That is why the decision on customs duties for small parcels coming into the EU is so important to ensuring fair competition at our borders in today’s e-commerce era."
The decision, effective from 1 July 2026, applies per parcel, not per item, meaning that if a customer buys three items shipped together in a single parcel, the tax will be €3; if the items are delivered in three separate parcels, the tax will apply to each one.
The number of small ecommerce parcels entering the EU has increased sharply in recent years. Some €4.6 billion low-value items under €150 were imported to the EU in 2024, representing an average of 12 million parcels per day, according to European Commission data.
That is a major increase from the €2.3 billion that entered in 2023 and €1.4 billion in 2022.
According to current rules, parcels that cost less than €150 are subject to customs duties. However, the EU recently agreed to abolish such an exemption.
The decision is temporary until the EU finds a permanent solution on how to eliminate the customs duty relief threshold.