EU de minimis: the EUR 150 customs duty relief is gone and a EUR 3 duty per item applies

What you do:

1. Check the order. A consignment of EUR 150 or less sold to a consumer in the EU pays a customs duty of EUR 3 per item from 1 July 2026 until 1 July 2028. Goods that qualify for a tariff preference and are declared in a full (H1) declaration without IOSS pay the preferential rate instead (see the table). The EUR 150 relief that used to make it duty free is deleted (Council Regulation (EU) 2026/382, Art. 1, Art. 2). The EUR 150 is the price of the goods, without transport and insurance shown separately on the invoice (Delegated Reg. Art. 1(48)Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446, supplementing the Union Customs CodeArticle 1, paragraph 48Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).
2. Count items, not parcels. An item is all the goods in the parcel that share one tariff classification, description and, where declared, origin. Five T-shirts are one item and pay EUR 3; a T-shirt and a watch are two items and pay EUR 6 (Art. 1(61)Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446, supplementing the Union Customs CodeArticle 1, paragraph 61Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.; Commission, Guidance and legal text). Get the tariff code of each product first; TARIC code and commodity code show how.
3. Know who declares your parcels. The duty falls on the declarant, in this order: the person using IOSS or its indirect representative; the person using the special arrangements or its indirect representative; the importer’s indirect representative. Where an indirect representative declares, the person it acts for owes the duty too. The declarant is often a carrier, an intermediary, a platform or a seller. The consumer is the declarant only in a residual case (UCC Art. 77(3)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 77, paragraph 3Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.; Delegated Regulation 2015/2446, Annex B, data element 13 05 000 000; Commission, Guidance on the EUR 3 customs duty, section 3.4.3). Who counts as the declarant, and the EORI number it needs, are on EORI number.
4. Price the duty in. The Commission calls it “not a tax on consumers”: the declarant pays it, and the consumer only in very residual cases. If you charge it to your customer at checkout under IOSS, VAT is due on it too (Commission, Guidance and legal text; Commission, Addendum to the VAT e-Commerce explanatory notes, 21 August 2026).
5. Keep the VAT route as it was. IOSS still handles the VAT on parcels of EUR 150 or less; it does not remove the EUR 3. How IOSS works is on IOSS. Who bears the duty and the VAT at the door, DDP or DAP, is on DDP shipping.
6. Give product identifiers from 1 November 2026. They may be given voluntarily from 1 July 2026 (Commission, Guidance on the EUR 3 customs duty, section 3.5.2).
7. Do not count on an easy refund when a customer returns the parcel. The simplified invalidation of the declaration no longer exists for a returned parcel of EUR 150 or less; the general rules on repayment of customs duty still apply (Delegated Reg. Art. 148(3)Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446, supplementing the Union Customs CodeArticle 148, paragraph 3Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.; Commission, Guidance on the EUR 3 customs duty, section 3.4.7).

What the EUR 150 customs duty relief was

The relief was Chapter V of Council Regulation (EC) No 1186/2009. Goods of negligible value, sent directly from outside the EU to a consignee in the EU, entered free of import duty. Negligible meant an intrinsic value of up to EUR 150 per consignment. Alcoholic products, perfumes and toilet waters, and tobacco products were left out of the relief (Regulation (EC) No 1186/2009, Art. 23, Art. 24).

The relief covered customs duty only. The VAT exemption for goods worth up to EUR 22 ended on 1 July 2021, so every commercial parcel has carried VAT since then. IOSS, for parcels of EUR 150 or less, is the VAT scheme that came with that change (Commission, VAT e-Commerce - One Stop Shop; Council Regulation (EU) 2026/382, recital 2). So “EU de minimis” means two different rules. The EUR 22 VAT rule is gone since 2021. The EUR 150 duty rule went on 1 July 2026.

The EU de minimis removal: what changed on 1 July 2026

Council Regulation (EU) 2026/382 of 11 February 2026 did two things (Council Regulation (EU) 2026/382, Art. 1, Art. 2, Art. 4).

• It deleted the relief. Chapter V of Regulation 1186/2009, Articles 23 and 24, is gone.
• It put a flat duty in its place. From 1 July 2026 until 1 July 2028, a customs duty of EUR 3 per item applies to a consignment whose intrinsic value does not exceed a total of EUR 150, where the import is exempt from VAT under IOSS, or the goods are in a postal consignment.

The Regulation was published in the Official Journal on 18 February 2026. It entered into force on the twentieth day after that and applies from 1 July 2026.

“Postal consignment” does not mean a parcel sent by post. In the EU’s customs rules it means goods in a consignment of EUR 150 or less, sold at a distance to an EU consumer, other than goods that enter under IOSS and other than goods that benefit from a preferential tariff measure (Delegated Reg. Art. 1(24)Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446, supplementing the Union Customs CodeArticle 1, paragraph 24Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.; VAT Directive Art. 14(4)Directive 2006/112/EC, the VAT Directive (consolidated text of 14 April 2025)Article 14, paragraph 4Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., point 2). So the EUR 3 reaches every sale from outside the EU to an EU consumer in a parcel of EUR 150 or less, whichever carrier you use and whichever VAT route you take. The one exception is goods that benefit from a preferential tariff measure and are declared in a full (H1) declaration without IOSS.

After 1 July 2028 the ordinary customs tariff applies to these goods; how the rate on a tariff line is set is on EU import duty rates. The Commission says the EU Customs Data Hub for e-commerce is to be operational then, and that normal customs duties will apply, depending on the type of good (Commission, Guidance and legal text).

The EU 3 euro customs duty is charged per item, not per parcel

The 3 euro customs duty is a fixed amount for each item. It does not depend on what the goods are worth or how many pieces there are. An item is “one or more goods in a consignment sharing the same tariff classification, description and, if provided in accordance with the data requirements applicable to the relevant customs declaration or to the data to be provided or made available to the customs authorities, origin” (Delegated Reg. Art. 1(61)Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446, supplementing the Union Customs CodeArticle 1, paragraph 61Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). In the customs systems the duty is applied per declaration line.

The suits and the bicycle parts are the Commission’s own examples. They show that a full declaration, which names the 10-digit tariff code and the origin, can split what a simplified one merges. A full (H1) declaration is mandatory to claim a tariff preference, for goods under prohibitions or restrictions, and for excise goods (Commission, Guidance on the EUR 3 customs duty, sections 3.3.1 and 3.4.2). Grouping items under the highest rate is not allowed where the EUR 3 applies.

• Each consignment is tested alone. Orders by two customers, meant to be delivered separately, are two consignments with two declarations. Goods from one order that are dispatched separately are separate consignments too (Commission, Guidance on the EUR 3 customs duty, section 3.3.1; Questions and answers, 30 June 2026, question 1(d)). How the IOSS limit is counted is on IOSS.
• Grouped sales are looked at. Customs can treat a consignment that is really several distance sales packed together as distance sales. Indicators include a label or barcode that gives each buyer’s destination and how often the same operator declares such consignments (Guidance, section 3.2.3).
• No customs value is needed. The duty is a fixed amount, so nobody has to work out a customs value for it (Guidance, section 3.2.3).

Who pays the EU 3 euro customs duty: the declarant, and the person it declares for

The declarant owes the duty to customs. For a consignment of EUR 150 or less sold at a distance, the law names the declarant in a fixed order (Delegated Regulation 2015/2446, Annex B, data element 13 05 000 000):

1. the person using IOSS, or its indirect representative;
2. if that does not apply, the person using the special arrangements, or its indirect representative;
3. if neither applies, the indirect representative of the importer;
4. if none applies, any other person who can give all the information customs needs and present the goods. The Commission says this can be the consumer, but only in the EU countries that offer a free online declaration for private individuals, and never with an IOSS number (Commission, Guidance on the EUR 3 customs duty, section 3.4.3).

The declarant is the debtor of the customs debt, and where an indirect representative declares, the person on whose behalf it declares is a debtor as well (UCC Art. 77(3)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 77, paragraph 3Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). In the first two cases that person is the IOSS holder or the special-arrangements user, when its indirect representative declares. In the third case it is the importer, which the Commission describes as the consignee or consumer, represented by an indirect representative that the carrier finds (Commission, Guidance on the EUR 3 customs duty, section 3.4.3). The declarant must be established in the EU, apart from a few listed cases, so a business outside the EU rarely declares parcels itself: a carrier, postal operator or intermediary does, as its indirect representative (UCC Art. 170(2)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 170, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 170(3)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 170, paragraph 3Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The Commission’s guidance says the responsibility for paying the EUR 3 “should first and foremost lie with the declarant, i.e. the platforms, sellers, carrier or agent declaring the goods to the customs authorities”, and that only residually can other persons, including the consumer, declare the goods (Commission, Guidance on the EUR 3 customs duty, section 3.4.3).

The debt is owed to customs. Whether the carrier then bills you or your customer is a term of the carrier’s contract. EU law does not set that. Some carriers pass the duty to the recipient; how that works, and what DDP and DAP change, is on DDP shipping.

Regulation (EU) 2026/2108 (OJ 19.9.2026) repeals the Union Customs Code, Regulation (EU) No 952/2013Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeThe whole regulationClick opens the law on the EU Publications Office., and applies from 21 September 2027; the UCC articles on this page are the ones in force until then (Regulation (EU) 2026/2108, Art. 284(1), Art. 287(2)).

The EUR 3 duty sits beside VAT, not instead of it

Three rules do not move, and each has its own page.

• VAT. There is no EUR 22 VAT limit any more. Under IOSS the parcel enters without import VAT and no VAT is due on the EUR 3 at the border. Without IOSS, import VAT is due and the EUR 3 forms part of the amount it is charged on; the VAT charged on the EUR 3 is refunded with the rest of the import VAT if the goods are returned (Commission, Addendum; Art. 143(1)(ca)Directive 2006/112/EC, the VAT Directive (consolidated text of 14 April 2025)Article 143, paragraph 1, point (ca)Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The scheme is on IOSS.
• The Incoterm. DDP says who bears the costs between you and your buyer. It does not change who owes the duty to customs. That is on DDP shipping.
• The ordinary tariff. Parcels above EUR 150, business sales and preference claims pay the tariff rate of the code. Reading that rate starts at TARIC code.

What to change: pricing, DDP, IOSS and EU stock

A seller outside the EU, in the US, the UK or elsewhere, has four things to set.

• Pricing. EUR 3 is the same on a EUR 10 item and on a EUR 140 item, so it weighs most on cheap goods. Either add it to the price or the shipping fee, or take it from your margin. If you add it at checkout under IOSS, VAT is due on it. Count items per parcel: a parcel of three products with three different tariff codes pays EUR 9.
• DDP or not. A carrier that is the declarant owes the duty either way, and the person it declares for owes it too. The open question is who the carrier bills, you or your customer. Settle the term with the carrier and state it to the buyer before checkout.
• IOSS or not. IOSS does not avoid the duty. Without IOSS the only way off the EUR 3 is goods that qualify for a tariff preference, declared in a full (H1) declaration; the preferential rate then applies. The proof of origin is on certificate of origin.
• Stock in the EU. Goods you import in bulk and sell from an EU warehouse are not imported as a distance sale. They pay the ordinary tariff on import. The Commission describes bulk imports as always subject to duties (Commission, EU Customs Reform). Goods sold to a consumer before they go into a customs warehouse are still distance sales, and pay the EUR 3 (Commission, Guidance on the EUR 3 customs duty, section 3.2.2).

Where your parcel goes to a marketplace customer, the carrier’s terms decide who pays at the door. Etsy, for one, states that a customs duty of EUR 3 per item applies as of 1 July 2026 in addition to VAT, and adds: “Processes for collection of this duty may vary by provider.” (Etsy Help, Customs Fees and Physical VAT Collection)

Product identifiers and the Union handling fee come next

Two more requirements follow the EUR 3. They are separate from it, and the Commission keeps them apart.

• Product identifiers. From 1 November 2026 the customs data of every distance sale of imported goods must carry product identifiers, whatever the value. From 1 July 2026 they may be given voluntarily, and during that period no penalty is taken for data that is missing or wrong (Commission, Guidance on the EUR 3 customs duty, sections 3.5.2 and 3.5.4; Questions and answers, 30 June 2026, question 3(b)).
• The Union handling fee. It is not a customs duty. Regulation (EU) 2026/2108 makes customs collect a fixed amount per item on goods sold in distance sales. From 1 July 2028 it is lower for goods sold from a customs warehouse for distance sales. It is non-refundable, and the debtor is the debtor of the customs debt. Recital 80 says the consumer should not be a debtor of it (Regulation (EU) 2026/2108, Art. 20(2), 20(4), 20(5), 20(6), 287(5)(a); recital 80). The Regulation sets no amount. The Commission sets it by delegated act, which it had to adopt by 29 September 2026, and Article 20(2) applies from ten days after that act enters into force (Regulation (EU) 2026/2108, Art. 20(10), 286(1)(a), 287(4)). The Commission adopted that act on 21 September 2026: EUR 2 per item. It is not yet in force and not yet published in the Official Journal. As the first act setting the fee, it can enter into force only if neither the European Parliament nor the Council objects within 30 days of notification, or earlier if both say they will not object. It enters into force on the day it is published in the Official Journal (Commission Delegated Regulation C(2026)6694, Art. 1, Art. 2; Regulation (EU) 2026/2108, Art. 282(7)). The Commission’s reform page of 21 September 2026 says the fee will be introduced by 1 November 2026 and gives no amount. It carries no VAT (Commission, EU Customs Reform; Commission, Addendum).

France’s EUR 2 small parcel tax ended on 1 July 2026

France briefly had its own charge on the same parcels. From 1 March 2026 it taxed each item of goods in a consignment under EUR 150, declared in the simplified H7 declaration, at EUR 2, under Article 82 of Law 2026-103 of 19 February 2026. French customs gives the payer as the person liable for the import VAT declared in the H7, and counts the item at the HS6 level (French customs, Taxe sur les petits colis, 8 July 2026).

French customs states that the tax was repealed on 1 July 2026, when the EU’s flat EUR 3 duty began. Parcels imported from that date pay EU customs duty and VAT, collected at the sale under IOSS or at import without it, and no French tax. There is none to collect or pass on to a French buyer. The Ministry of the Economy announced it on 30 June 2026 as a suspension (press release no. 850).

Orders above EUR 150 pay the ordinary duty, not the EUR 3

The EUR 3 reaches only consignments of EUR 150 or less. A consignment worth more pays the ordinary tariff duty (EU import duty rates) and import VAT, and IOSS does not apply to it (VAT Directive Art. 369lDirective 2006/112/EC, the VAT Directive (consolidated text of 14 April 2025)Article 369lClick opens the article on EUR-Lex.; Regulation 2026/382, Art. 2). Etsy’s help page says the same: where the package is worth more than EUR 150, VAT and customs duty are assessed at the point of entry, and the buyer may have to pay charges that were not in the checkout price (Etsy Help, Customs Fees and Physical VAT Collection). Regulation 2026/382 does not forbid a sale above EUR 150 into the EU. It sets the EUR 3 for consignments up to that value and leaves larger ones to the ordinary tariff.

The UK has its own £135 rule

Great Britain has a separate rule, and it is also changing.

• Today. Non-excise goods worth £135 or less sent to Great Britain pay no customs duty; above £135 the rate depends on the goods and where they came from. For a direct sale of £135 or less, not through an online marketplace, you charge UK VAT at the point of sale (GOV.UK, Goods sent from abroad: tax and duty; GOV.UK, VAT and overseas goods sold directly to customers in the UK). The VAT rule is explained on DDP shipping.
• Next. On 13 July 2026 HMRC published draft legislation that removes the £135 duty relief and adds a fiscal representative, a UK business that is jointly and severally liable for the debts of an overseas seller on these parcels. It is a draft, not law. It comes into force on a day the Treasury sets by regulations, by October 2028 at the latest (GOV.UK, HMRC, Reforming the customs treatment of low value imports into the UK).

What happens if you do nothing

Your parcel still pays. The duty falls due when customs accept the declaration, and customs release the goods as a general rule only when the debt is paid or covered by a guarantee (Commission, Guidance on the EUR 3 customs duty, section 3.4.6). Your carrier or intermediary pays EUR 3 for each item to customs; what it then bills, and to whom, is set in its own terms. Without IOSS the parcel also pays import VAT, with the EUR 3 inside the amount it is charged on.

If a parcel is declared as something other than a distance sale, and customs find that it was one, a customs debt arising through non-compliance is payable by the debtor, and it is for the operator to prove the import is not linked to a distance sale (Commission, Guidance on the EUR 3 customs duty, section 3.4.5).