Brussels – Amazon and similar platforms: taxes are now being introduced on every parcel sold. The European Parliament and the Council have reached an agreement on the EU Customs Code, which tightens the rules on e-commerce. One of the most disruptive principles is that online retail platforms that send parcels directly to EU consumers may be treated as importers, triggering customs duties. According to the informal agreement, which must now be approved by the plenary and ministers, there will be a new handling fee “for each item entering the EU from non-EU countries and sent directly to EU consumers.” It is not called a duty; European lawmakers refer to it as a “new handling fee” designed to “cover the extra cost of handling an ever-increasing number of individual parcels.”
The European Commission will set the level of the fee, and reassess it every two years. Member States will begin collecting it as soon as the necessary information technology (IT) system becomes operational, and in any event, no later than 1 November 2026.
In practice, Amazon will have to pay to get parcels delivered. And while no names are mentioned officially, those who do speak point to Chinese operators. “With this reform, we will make platforms such as Temu and Shein responsible importers of the goods they sell to our consumers,” states Jeannette Baljeu, the European Liberal Group’s spokesperson (RE). The measure is therefore openly presented as anti-China, given the EU’s complaints about the products sold on these platforms. Inevitably, the crackdown also affects Alibaba and AliExpress, but the principle applies to other online shopping brands as well, including Amazon. The European Commission estimates, however, that 5.9 billion low-value items will have entered the EU by 2025 in parcels sent directly to consumers, of which over 90 per cent will come from China.
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The reform of the EU’s Customs Code is part of a broader plan to adapt the European Union to a changing reality. The agreement between Parliament and the Council complements the crackdown adopted in December 2025 on parcels worth less than 150 euros: from 1 July 2026, a 3-euro duty will apply across the EU for every product purchased online and arriving from non-EU countries. Furthermore, the same agreement, which treats platforms as importers, provides for the role of the new Customs Authority in Lille (France), which will be responsible for coordinating the implementation of the new e-commerce rules.
The reform provides for a new customs hub to be managed by the new EU Customs Authority (EUCA). It will be available for optional use by 2031 and will become mandatory by 2034. The data hub will replace at least 111 software systems currently used by customs. This will make customs procedures easier and faster, and enable more effective risk analysis and customs cooperation. The Commissioner for Trade, Maros Sefcovic, welcomes the political outcome for the anti-fragmentation signal it sends: “This reform is a transformative step towards a more unified and modern
customs system in the EU, where the EU customs union acts as one.” For this reason, “the agreement marks a pivotal moment, opening a new chapter for our Customs Union.”
For customs authorities across the EU, this data integration provides access to real-time, first-hand information and a Europe-wide overview. It is expected that this will enable Member States to save over 2 billion euros a year in operational costs.
“The main part of this reform is the shift of responsibility from the consumer to the seller,” emphasises Dirk Gotnik (EPP), the European Parliament’s lead negotiator for inter-institutional talks, during a press conference called to take stock of the situation following the green light given late yesterday evening (26 March). Furthermore, he explains, the aim was to take action to end tax evasion. “Six million small parcels enter the EU every day” through online commerce, he notes, and “many cross-border taxes are not paid,” he argues. “VAT fraud is the starting point for criminal activities.”
From this perspective, the reform provides that companies that repeatedly ignore EU rules could be punished with a fine
of at least 1 per cent and up to 6 per cent of the total value of goods imported into
the EU in the previous 12 months. Additionally, customs authorities may
suspend, revoke, or annul their trusted trader or AEO status and flag
them as high-risk operators. In effect, the platforms would be shut down and cease operations. “They would be placed in quarantine; it’s the nuclear option,” Gotnik said. “First, we have the two levels of fines: the lighter one and the heavier one.”
