EU €3 parcel duty is in force; €2 handling fee starts 1 November

The €3 temporary customs duty is the only one of the three charges on low-value EU imports confirmed in force, applying since 1 July 2026². The €2 Union handling fee is scheduled to start on 1 November 2026³, but sources disagree on whether it is charged per item or per declaration line^1,4. The Union market surveillance fee has no published amount or start date^1,5. Sources checked on 9 October 2026.

The €3 duty is the only charge in force

From 1 July 2026 the EU applies a temporary €3 customs duty per item on low-value consignments up to €150 from outside the EU, ending the duty exemption that applied until 30 June 2026². The duty is flat until 1 July 2028, when normal customs duties apply depending on the type of good².

The duty is charged per item, based on tariff classification, not quantity². The Commission's example shows five T-shirts paying €3 in total, because they fall under one tariff line, while one T-shirt plus one watch pays €6². It applies to distance sales of goods in consignments up to €150, regardless of VAT scheme (IOSS, Special Arrangements or standard VAT)².

The declarant pays the duty: the seller or importer, including IOSS holders and special arrangements users². The Commission describes the duty as a fixed charge “per item (not per parcel)”².

The €2 Union handling fee is scheduled, and its unit is disputed

A Commission news item dated 7 October 2026 states: “From 1 November 2026, the EU will apply the €2 Union handling fee”³. Pasquale Pillitteri reports that the amount is set in delegated regulation C(2026) 6694, dated 21 September 2026⁴, which the Commission lists among its key documents³. Its Article 1 says the amount “shall be EUR 2 per item”⁴.

This is a change from earlier guidance. The Commission's 8 June 2026 guidance described a “Proposed Union handling fee” with its amount and date of application still to be determined, and called it “a fee and not a customs duty” that aims to cover customs processing costs². The Commission says its guidance is updated periodically³.

The unit is the open point. Ecommerce News Europe reports the fee is charged per declaration line¹. Pillitteri says the act never defines “item”, that the Dutch government writes “per productgroep” (per tariff line), and that some outlets write “per parcel”, a formula the text does not support⁴. The fee applies from the tenth day after Official Journal publication, with 1 November set as the deadline in the Union Customs Code, and the bill goes to the declarant⁴.

The market surveillance fee has no published amount or start date

A leaked draft of the planned European Product Act mentions a “Union market surveillance fee”, intended to help finance market surveillance and product inspections¹. Under the draft, importers would in principle pay it, but who is liable for direct shipments from online retailers is still to be determined¹. The fee must be proportional to estimated costs and lower for bulk imports than for individual parcels sent to consumers¹.

Osborne Clarke published on 1 October 2026 that the draft was leaked ahead of the Commission's expected formal proposal on 6 October 2026⁵. The sources reviewed do not confirm whether that proposal has been published, and none gives an amount. We would not put a number on this fee in any budget yet.

The three charges side by side

How the charges stack on a sample order

The sources do not give a combined figure, so the calculation below is ours, using the reported amounts.

Pillitteri's example is a cart of three T-shirts and a watch⁴. The duty is €6, because the cart has two tariff lines^2,4. If the €2 fee applies per item, the cart has four items and the fee is €8, giving €14 before VAT⁴. If it applies per tariff line, the fee is €4 and the total is €10 before VAT⁴. The surveillance fee is not included in either total, because no amount is published^1,5.

Our view: a flat charge is a larger share of a low unit price, so multi-line, low-value orders feel the stacking most.

Genuine advantages and who each charge suits

Each charge has a case in its favour. The €3 duty is confirmed, flat per item by tariff classification, and applies across IOSS, Special Arrangements and standard VAT². The €2 handling fee is presented as cost-based, covering customs processing, and the Commission must review it every two years⁴. The surveillance fee is designed to be lower for bulk imports than for individual parcels¹.

Sellers who need certainty now should model the €3 duty first, because it is the only confirmed charge². Sellers and importers that declare goods to the EU carry the duty and the handling fee bill^2,4, and platforms and sellers shipping from outside the EU may pass these on to final prices⁴. The Commission says the duty applies “whether it is buying in bulk or individually”², and the leaked draft says the surveillance fee should be lower for bulk imports¹, but no bulk rate is published.

What to check before 1 November 2026

• Read delegated regulation C(2026) 6694 yourself to confirm whether “per item” means per item or per tariff line. Trade reports disagree^1,4.
• Check whether the Commission has published the surveillance fee proposal, and whether it sets an amount, start date or payer.
• Work out the €3 duty per tariff line for each product in your catalogue, using the Commission's per-item, per-tariff method².
• Note the product identifier dates: they become mandatory on 1 November 2026, and can be declared voluntarily from 1 July 2026².
• Note that the EU Customs Data Hub becomes mandatory for e-commerce on 1 July 2028³.

For how the duty affects landed cost, see our earlier explainer, EU €3 parcel duty: how it is counted and what it adds to costs².