{"id":458285,"date":"2026-06-29T14:25:07","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T12:25:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2026\/06\/29\/parte-il-primo-luglio-il-dazio-di-3-euro-sui-piccoli-pacchi-spediti-in-ue-da-paesi-terzi\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T16:51:06","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T14:51:06","slug":"a-3-euro-duty-on-small-parcels-sent-to-the-eu-from-third-countries-to-come-into-force-on-1-july","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/06\/29\/a-3-euro-duty-on-small-parcels-sent-to-the-eu-from-third-countries-to-come-into-force-on-1-july\/","title":{"rendered":"A 3-euro duty on small parcels sent to the EU from third countries to come into force on 1 July"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels –<\/span>A three-euro duty on small parcels sent within the European Union is about to take effect<\/strong>. The temporary measure will come into force the day after tomorrow, 1 July, and, for two years (until July 2028), it will remove the duty-free allowance that previously exempted parcels from non-EU countries worth less than 150 euros from customs duties. <\/span>Described by a European official as \u201ca facilitation measure\u201d, the tax will be applied to any item purchased online and sent directly to consumers, regardless of its value, at the time of import<\/strong>. If different but similar products are purchased, the customs code will determine whether they belong to the same category and, therefore, whether a duty will be levied. In most cases, it will be the platforms, online sellers, or any other company involved in the sale and transport of the imported goods that will pay the duties, while consumers who shop online are not legally liable for paying them. The flat-rate duty applies per item, so if you buy three items (a pair of shoes, a dress, an umbrella), the duty will be nine euros. As for collection, however, the EU will rely on the Member States\u2019 IT systems until a temporary ad hoc system is set up. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The reasons behind the Commission\u2019s decision lies in the safety risks<\/strong>, given that in 2025, over 60 per cent of items purchased online \u2013 cosmetics, electronics, toys and food supplements \u2013 did not meet EU product compliance standards; the decline in the retail sector <\/strong>and the resulting impact on local employment and community life; the commitment to the environment<\/strong>, given that excessive consumption, excessive packaging, waste, non-recyclable materials, and carbon-intensive logistics \u2013 with frequent returns and long-distance shipments \u2013 double transport-related pollution.<\/span><\/p>\n

 But for Brussels, it is above all a measure to restore the trade balance. \u201cWe will impose a customs duty of three euros on parcels entering the EU for two main reasons: to ensure a level playing field, on the one hand, and to provide customs authorities with the necessary tools to tackle, monitor, and, where necessary, remove dangerous products from the market,\u201d the EU official explained. In short, it is a matter of \u201cfairness\u201d and of \u201capplying the same rules to our businesses and to goods entering our territory and sold online.\u201d In other words, \u201cwe must restore the situation to normal,<\/strong>\u201d a European official reiterated, emphasising that the absence of duties on much of what arrives in Europe represents an \u201cabnormal situation\u201d because \u201cthe exemption <\/span> dates back to a time before the international e-commerce boom and to a period when customs declaration procedures were far less digitised than they are today.\u201d For this reason, \u201cit is no longer justified.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

 In 2025<\/strong>, 5.9 billion items entered the EU from third countries without paying customs duties, in the form of<\/strong> “low-value parcels,<\/strong>” accounting for over 97 per cent of the total value of imports<\/strong>. Of these, 16 million are cleared through customs every day. \u201cEvery year, the number of consignments doubles,\u201d a European official noted, with \u201ccustoms under severe strain.\u201d Not only that, but by maintaining the exemption, \u201cwe have essentially encouraged this trade,\u201d and now \u201cwe will be abolishing it, as many other countries around the world are doing.\u201d Among the countries taking action in this direction are the United States and the United Kingdom, so we are witnessing \u201ca global trend towards tackling this problem.\u201d <\/span>Member States that introduced comparable measures must suspend them after 1 July, as customs policy falls under the Commission\u2019s exclusive competence.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 In addition to the exemption, the Commission is working on a handling fee which is not \u201ca tariff measure such as a duty,\u201d but a means of offsetting the increased costs incurred by the customs authorities. At present, the decision on the amount to be levied has been postponed until next month. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The measure, which will come into force the day after tomorrow, forms part of the customs reform proposed by the Commission in February 2023. Between November and December 2025, the Economic and Financial Affairs Council (Ecofin) \u2013 which brings together the finance ministers of the 27 Member States \u2013 decided to abolish the exemption and to apply the three-euro customs duty, which will come into force on 1 July, following consultations and preparatory work with Member States and stakeholders.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The duty will apply to any item purchased online and shipped directly to EU consumers, regardless of its value. It will mainly be online platforms and\/or sellers who will pay it<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7908,"featured_media":458245,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25705],"tags":[25871,25916,26001,26598,27023,27557,33394,34644],"class_list":["post-458285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-cina-en","tag-council-en","tag-dazi-en","tag-e-commerce-en","tag-ecofin-en-2","tag-ue","tag-venditori-online"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7908"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=458285"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458285\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":458286,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458285\/revisions\/458286"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/458245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=458285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=458285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=458285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}