EU to charge €2 handling fee on small parcels from outside the bloc from 1 November, on top of €3 customs duty

In brief

• From 1 November 2026, EU states will charge a €2 handling fee per item on low-value parcels from outside the bloc.
• The fee stacks on the €3 customs duty in force since July, so a single-item order can carry up to €5 in extra charges.
• Officials expect the charge to cut the flow of small parcels, mainly from Chinese platforms.

Handling fee starts on 1 November

From 1 November 2026, EU member states will begin charging a handling fee of €2 on each item in a customs declaration for parcels sent from non-EU countries to consumers in the bloc (1 listopada 2026 r. początek drugiej rundy walki UE z chińskimi paczkami. Będzie drożej, tym razem o 2 euro opłaty manipulacyjnej – GazetaPrawna.pl). The European Commission set the amount. The fee applies per item rather than per parcel, regardless of the total value of the shipment (Od listopada nowa opłata. "Walka o europejskiego klienta" – TVN24).

Stacked on top of the customs duty

The new charge comes on top of a €3 customs duty that has applied since July to parcels worth €150 or less sent directly to EU consumers (Nowe opłaty za małe paczki spoza UE. Od 1 listopada aż 4,6 mld przesyłek pod lupą – Infor.pl). Taken together, a single-item order can now carry up to €5 in extra charges.

Officials expect fewer low-value parcels

Deputy Finance Minister Marcin Łoboda, who also heads Poland's National Revenue Administration (KAS), told PAP that the fee will further reduce the inflow of low-value parcels into the EU. He argued that buying goods whose price is lower than the customs and tax charges will no longer make economic sense (Kolejny cios w zakupy z Chin. Najpierw 3 euro cła, teraz 2 euro opłaty manipulacyjnej – Bankier.pl). The fee is meant to help cover the cost of risk analysis, inspections and customs handling, which the Commission says have grown with the surge in e-commerce.

Scale of the problem

In 2025, nine out of every ten euros spent by EU residents on non-EU online shopping went to Chinese platforms, according to the figures cited in coverage of the rule. In 2024, roughly 4.6 billion small parcels reached the EU market. Customs handling of e-commerce imports can cost up to €5.3 billion a year.

Competition with local retailers

Experts quoted by TVN24 say the tariff policy could intensify the fight for European consumers between local firms and producers from Asia. Forsal notes that the Commission is also taking other steps to limit the expansion of Chinese e-commerce, which suggests the fee is part of a wider effort rather than a standalone measure (Koniec ultratanich zakupów e-commerce spoza UE. Od 1 listopada nowe opłaty za małe paczki spoza UE. Komisja Europejska prowadzi też inne działania ograniczające ekspansję chińskiego e-commerce – Forsal.pl).