After EUR 3: the 2028 customs duty change
What the texts say about low-value imports after 1 July 2028: normal duty rates, the Customs Data Hub, the new customs code and the handling fee.
The EUR 3 customs duty on low-value distance sales is temporary. It applies from 1 July 2026 until 1 July 2028. The European Commission’s guidance states the rule after that date. Goods sold in distance sales, “irrespective of their value, will be subject to the normal duty rate”. The same date is when the EU Customs Data Hub becomes mandatory for e-commerce. The Data Hub was created by the new Union Customs Code, adopted on 16 September 2026.
Suppose a maker of phone accessories outside the EU has spent 2026 adjusting its parcel prices to EUR 3 per item. The details are hypothetical, for the mechanics only. It is now planning 2028. The flat charge it has just learned to model will not be the charge it pays then. The party answering for the import may not be the one it uses today.
What ends on 1 July 2028?
Council Regulation (EU) 2026/382 of 11 February 2026 did two things. It deleted the duty relief that had let consignments of up to EUR 150 enter the EU free of customs duty. It put a temporary customs duty of EUR 3 per item in place of that relief. The duty applies to goods sold to consumers at a distance, in consignments of EUR 150 or less. Each tariff sub-heading in the consignment counts as one item. The Commission’s guidance of 2 June 2026 describes that duty as applicable “from 1 July 2026 until 1 July 2028”.
The relief does not come back in 2028. The temporary duty ends, and section 3.1 of the guidance sets out what follows: “The temporary customs duty will apply until 1 July 2028. Therefore, after that date, the goods sold in transactions qualifying as distance sales, irrespective of their value, will be subject to the normal duty rate.”
In practice, the flat amount per item gives way to the duty rate that applies to each product’s classification. A mixed parcel stops paying a fixed sum per item and pays what its contents would pay at any other value. How the 2026 duty is counted today is set out in EUR 3 customs duty: per item, not per parcel.
Will the EUR 3 duty be extended?
Possibly, but only through a new decision. Section 2.1 of the guidance records two reviews that Regulation (EU) 2026/382 requires of the Commission. By 1 October 2026, it assesses whether trade flows are being diverted. If appropriate, it also proposes by that date extending the EUR 3 duty to cover all goods in consignments of up to EUR 150. By 1 December 2027, it assesses whether the EU Customs Data Hub will be realistically operational by 1 July 2028. If it will not, “the Commission may propose to extend the transitional customs duty for a longer period.”
An extension would therefore be a proposal, followed by a decision. Until one is adopted, 1 July 2028 is the end date in force.
What is the EU Customs Data Hub?
The Data Hub is the central customs data system created by the reform of the Union Customs Code. The Commission’s reform page states that “on 16 September 2026, the European Parliament and the Council adopted” the new code, Regulation (EU) 2026/2108. The code has entered into force. It also sets up an EU Customs Authority, located in Lille, with some activities starting in 2027.
The Commission gives the timetable for the Data Hub in one sentence: “The use of the data hub to record imports to and exports from the EU will become mandatory for e-commerce on 1 July 2028, and for all traders from 1 March 2034.” In between, the Data Hub “will then open for all other businesses in 2031” on a voluntary basis.
The date that ends the EUR 3 duty and the date the Data Hub becomes mandatory for e-commerce are the same. The Commission’s page connects them directly: “Once the Data Hub is fully operational, normal customs duties will apply.”
Who is the importer for distance sales?
The new code moves responsibility towards the seller and the platform. The Commission’s reform page sets out who is responsible. It states that “non-EU online platforms and sellers are responsible for customs formalities and duty payments for the goods they sell into the EU”. The European Parliament issued a press release on the agreement of 26 March 2026. It says that “sellers and platforms that facilitate distance sales of goods from non-EU countries directly to EU customers will be treated as importers”.
The dates on which each of these obligations applies are set in Regulation (EU) 2026/2108 and its implementing rules, published in the Official Journal. They are not restated here.
What is the handling fee?
The handling fee is separate from the EUR 3 duty and from normal duty rates. The Commission’s reform page announced a Union handling fee on small parcels. Its purpose is to compensate “for the increasing costs for customs authorities”, and a delegated act sets the amount. The Parliament describes it as a fee “for each item entering the EU from non-EU countries and sent directly to EU consumers”.
The amount now has a text. On 21 September 2026 the Commission adopted a delegated act that puts the Union handling fee at “EUR 2 per item”. The act is not yet in force. It enters into force on publication in the Official Journal and applies from the tenth day after that. Until publication, the start date is not fixed.
The Commission’s page adds one detail that matters for e-commerce importers that operate a customs warehouse. It reads: “From 2028, where the importer operates a customs warehouse, the fee will be lower due to easier customs checks.” The amount itself is set by delegated act.
What changes for sellers outside the EU
For a seller that ships each order from outside the EU as its own parcel, 2028 changes three things. The duty moves from a flat EUR 3 per item to the normal rate for the goods. The import runs through the Data Hub, and, from dates set in Regulation (EU) 2026/2108, the seller or platform answers as importer. The handling fee applies alongside.
For a seller that lands stock in the EU at wholesale level and ships orders from inside it, the calculation is different. Duty is paid at the normal rate when the wholesale stock is released. Orders to EU customers are deliveries inside the single market rather than imports. That model is walked through in selling to 27 EU markets from one import. The customs data a consignment carries, including the Product Identifier, is covered in the Product Identifier customs will ask for.
How this runs at EFC
At EFC’s base in Portugal, run with its logistics partner, stock lands once at wholesale level. It is usually released for free circulation on arrival. Higher-value goods that move in smaller volumes can instead be held in a bonded warehouse, where each release is its own tax point. Either way, the duty is settled on the wholesale stock at release. Neither the EUR 3 duty nor the 2028 regime for distance-sale parcels attaches to each consumer order.
The EUR 3 duty and the route around it are set out on the 2026 reform page.
Texts still to come
Much of the reform’s detail arrives through implementing and delegated acts, and the Commission’s two reviews may lead to proposals. The position described here is the one in the adopted texts and the Commission’s published pages on the date of writing. No view is taken on how any proposal will end. It is not legal or customs advice.
Sources
| Label | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Relief deleted; EUR 3 duty introduced | EUR 150 relief in Articles 23 and 24 of Regulation (EC) No 1186/2009 eliminated; temporary EUR 3 duty per item applicable from 1 July 2026 until 1 July 2028 | DG TAXUD, Customs Guidance on the EUR 3 customs duty, version of 2 June 2026, sections 1 and 2.1, opened 2026-09-24 |
| After 1 July 2028 | distance-sale goods, irrespective of value, subject to the normal duty rate | DG TAXUD, Customs Guidance on the EUR 3 customs duty, version of 2 June 2026, section 3.1, opened 2026-09-24 |
| Commission reviews | by 1 October 2026 on trade diversion; by 1 December 2027 on Data Hub readiness, with a possible proposal to extend the transitional duty | DG TAXUD, Customs Guidance on the EUR 3 customs duty, version of 2 June 2026, section 2.1, opened 2026-09-24 |
| New Union Customs Code | Regulation (EU) 2026/2108 adopted on 16 September 2026 and in force; EU Customs Authority in Lille, some activities from 2027 | European Commission, EU Customs Reform, opened 2026-09-24 |
| Data Hub timetable | mandatory for e-commerce on 1 July 2028; open to other businesses in 2031; mandatory for all traders from 1 March 2034; normal duties once fully operational | European Commission, EU Customs Reform, opened 2026-09-24 |
| Importers for distance sales | non-EU platforms and sellers responsible for customs formalities and duty payments | European Commission, EU Customs Reform, opened 2026-09-24 |
| Agreement of 26 March 2026 | sellers and platforms facilitating distance sales from non-EU countries treated as importers; handling fee per item sent directly to EU consumers | European Parliament, deal reached on Union Customs Code reform, 26 March 2026, opened 2026-09-24 |
| Handling fee | announced by the Commission; amount set by the Commission in a delegated act; lower from 2028 where the importer operates a customs warehouse | European Commission, EU Customs Reform, opened 2026-09-24 |
| Handling fee amount | “EUR 2 per item”, Commission Delegated Regulation C(2026) 6694 of 21 September 2026; applies from the tenth day after entry into force; not yet published in the Official Journal at 15.10.2026 | Council of the EU, document 13480/26, 22 September 2026, opened 2026-10-15 |