26.10.2026 Regulation #EU #Import #E-commerce #Duties

EU sets €2 handling fee per item on distance-sales parcels from 1 November

The European Commission has set the Union handling fee for distance-sales parcels from third countries at €2 per item. Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/2152 was published in the Official Journal on 22 October 2026 and applies from 1 November 2026. The fee is charged on top of the temporary €3 duty per item that has applied since 1 July 2026.

How the fee works and how the amount was set

The legal basis is Article 20 of Regulation (EU) 2026/2108, the new Union Customs Code. Customs authorities collect a fixed amount per item for handling a request to release goods for free circulation where those goods were sold at a distance. The fee is non-refundable. The debtor of the customs debt pays it, at least once a month.

The Commission based the amount on its first cost report for 2026–2028. The report covers data verification, risk analysis, controls and infrastructure, including services of the EU Customs Authority. The cost assessment rests on conservative assumptions, and the Commission draws up such a report every two years and may adjust the fee on that basis.

What changes for senders

DG TAXUD guidance, updated on 8 October, explains how the fee interacts with the duty:

The fee does not depend on value. It is not ad valorem but €2 per item.
Parcels worth more than €150 are also subject to the fee if the transaction qualifies as a distance sale.
Goods in parcels up to €150: the temporary €3 duty plus the €2 fee per item.
Goods in parcels above €150: the normal duty plus the €2 fee.
The €3 duty replaced the €150 threshold, which applied until 30 June 2026, and runs until 1 July 2028. The fee has no end date and will remain after that.

What this means for marketplaces, sellers and logistics providers

The fee is calculated per item, not per parcel, so an order of several units multiplies the cost. As the guidance explains, the fee arises when the customs declaration is accepted, in the Member State where it was lodged.

Under the TAXUD guidance, the fee forms part of the VAT taxable amount as an incidental expense of the supply, so VAT is due on it as well. The treatment differs by scheme:

IOSS. Import VAT is exempt, so no VAT is charged on the fee at the border. Where the fee is included in the price charged to the buyer at the time of sale, it forms part of the taxable amount in the IOSS VAT return.
Special Arrangements. Postal operators and carriers collect VAT from the customer, and the fee is included in the taxable amount. If the goods are returned, the VAT on the fee is refunded, but the fee itself is not.

Under Article 20(5), the fee is paid by the debtor of the customs debt on import; where no customs debt arises, the person who would have been the debtor pays it.

From 1 November 2026 and beyond 2028

Regulation 2026/2152 entered into force on the day of publication, 22 October, and applies from 1 November 2026. That date follows from Article 287(4) of Regulation 2026/2108, cited in the recitals of Regulation 2026/2152, under which the fee applies from the 10th day after the delegated act enters into force.

More changes are scheduled:

From 1 July 2028 the fee will be lower for goods sold at a distance from a customs warehouse for distance sales, according to the guidance.
The Commission will review the fee for such warehouses by delegated act before the end of the current EU multiannual financial framework (guidance, section 2.2).
From 1 July 2028 the EU Customs Data Hub, the new EU customs platform, becomes mandatory for e-commerce (Commission page).
Until 30 June 2028 the Commission provides an IT solution for calculating the fee (Art. 20(7)).

Primary sources

This material is for information only and does not constitute legal advice or customs consulting. Verify changes against the primary sources before acting.