The EU will charge an extra €2 “processing fee” on parcels imported into the European Union from Sunday November 1st in a bid to reduce the influx of cheap Chinese products bought on the internet. The fee is on top of the recent €3 EU tax added on “small parcels”.
As peak online shopping periods around Black Friday and Christmas loom large here is what you need to know about the new measure.
How do these fees work?
The fee, announced back in April, will apply to all shipments arriving in the European Union from a non-EU/EFTA third country. It will be applied regardless of the value of the ordered items.
The new handling or processing fee will apply to each item ordered from non-EU countries and sent directly to EU consumers. This is meant to cover the increasing customs costs associated with the sheer volume of individual packages.
The €2 fee comes on top of the €3 tax that has been imposed since July on imported parcels with a value below €150.
Just like this tax specific to “small parcels”, the processing fees are payable for each category of items contained in a single package.
For example:
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if a shipment contains twenty caps (whatever the brand or model), the fee will amount to €2.
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if a parcel contains three caps, four t-shirts, and two belts, the fee will be imposed on each separate category of item and therefore come to a total of €6.
READ MORE: Shein, Temu: Why European consumers will pay more for cheap online orders
This calculation is linked to the way products are declared at customs.
European legislation specifies that it is up to the platforms, sellers, or their intermediaries to pay these fees, even if they can be billed to consumers upon payment of their order.
But as pointed out on Monday by the European Consumer Organisation (BEUC), these fees must not be later claimed from consumers by postal services or delivery companies.
Why has this measure been brought in?
The new fee aims to finance a tightening of customs controls, in the face of the surge of Chinese products into the European market, purchased via platforms based in Asia.
Nearly 5.9 billion small parcels entered the EU in 2025, or more than 180 every second. That is four times more than in 2022. Out of this total, 93 percent came from China, generally via sites like Shein, Temu and AliExpress.
Faced with such an avalanche of goods, which widens the European trade deficit, the EU says it is impossible to systematically check parcels. This allows dangerous or counterfeit products to slip through the cracks.
European manufacturers and merchants had long denounced unfair competition, and several countries, led by France, pushed the EU to act to stem the tide.
The €3 tax has already had significant effects: since July, flows of small parcels have dropped by about 64 percent, even if Brussels has warned that it is too early to draw conclusions.
What’s the next step?
The €2 processing fee is a permanent measure, but the amount will be reviewed every two years.
The €3 tax however is a temporary measure and will be scrapped in July 2028. From then small parcels will be subject to European customs duties, on the same basis as other shipments.
