“The Council formally approved new customs duty rules applicable to items contained in small parcels entering the EU, primarily through e-commerce. The new rules address the fact that these parcels currently enter the Union duty-free, creating unfair competition for European sellers,” the body that brings together the Member States announced in a statement.

With this decision, the exemption based on the €150 threshold for small orders ceases to exist, meaning that all goods entering the EU will be subject to customs duties once the new European customs data centre, planned as part of a broader reform of the customs system and currently estimated for 2028, is operational.

Until this system becomes operational, Member States have agreed to apply a provisional fixed rate of €3 per item category for orders valued at less than €150 sent directly to consumers in the EU.

From 1 July 2026, the rate will be calculated by distinct product categories, identified by tariff subheadings. This means, for example, that an order containing one silk blouse and two woollen blouses will be considered to contain two different categories and will incur a customs duty of 6 euros.

According to the EU Council, the new regime will have a positive impact on the Union's budget and national public finances, since customs duties constitute a traditional own resource, with part of the revenue retained by Member States as collection costs.

This measure is distinct from the so-called handling charge, which is still under discussion within the overall customs reform package.

According to data from the European Commission, the number of small parcels arriving in the EU has doubled annually since 2022, and in 2024 alone, 4.6 billion such shipments entered the European market, 91% of which originated in China.

The European Union is currently negotiating, between the Council and the European Parliament, the structural reform of the customs system, including the creation of a European data centre overseen by a new EU customs authority.