From July 1, 2026, the EU has officially imposed a temporary tariff of €3 on low-value small parcels.

Next, cross-border sellers should also pay attention to a new fee—the EU small parcel handling fee.

Meanwhile, EURATEX, the European Apparel and Textile Confederation, recently proposed setting this handling fee at around €10 per item to cover customs declaration review, risk analysis, market surveillance and product safety inspections.

This means that the cost structure for low-value small parcels sent by sellers to the EU may change further.

I. From November, a new handling fee for small parcels in Europe

Starting July 1, 2026, for small parcels imported from outside the EU with a value not exceeding €150, the EU will remove the previous duty-free arrangement for parcels under €150 and begin imposing a temporary flat-rate tariff of €3.

In addition to the €3 temporary tariff, sellers also need to watch for the new Union Handling Fee—the EU small parcel handling fee.

The Council of the European Union formally approved the new customs reform framework in September 2026.

Under current arrangements,

the new EU small parcel handling fee will be implemented no later than November 1, 2026. However, the European Commission has not yet announced the final fee amount.

Simply put, €3 is a temporary tariff; the handling fee covers customs processing, surveillance and other related costs.

The EU said the new handling fee is mainly intended to cover customs processing, data verification, risk analysis, infrastructure and related regulatory costs arising from the growing volume of small parcels.

II. Handling fee may rise to €10

In a public statement in September 2026, EURATEX said the handling fee level currently discussed in the market is around €2–4 per item, but it believes this is not enough to cover the actual costs incurred by EU customs and market surveillance. It therefore proposed around €10 per item as a more reasonable reference level.

The €10 figure is currently only a proposal from EURATEX, not an officially confirmed EU fee. EURATEX also stressed that the final amount should be based on an assessment of actual public-sector costs.

Therefore, what sellers should focus on now is that the handling fee mechanism will take effect on November 1, but the final specific fee still needs to be announced by the European Commission.

Why is the EU adding this fee? It is related to the rapid growth in the number of cross-border e-commerce small parcels in recent years.

European Commission data shows that nearly 5.9 billion small parcels entered the EU market in 2025, and e-commerce parcels accounted for more than 97% of them.

Large numbers of low-value goods are shipped directly to consumers from outside the EU through cross-border e-commerce, putting growing pressure on customs, market surveillance and product safety inspections.

III. How will this affect cross-border sellers?

1. Costs will increase further

The impact will be more obvious for sellers that rely heavily on low-value products and direct small-parcel shipping.

In the past, a low-priced item sent directly to European consumers by small parcel had relatively manageable logistics and tax costs. Now, the €3 temporary tariff plus the later handling fee will further push up the fulfillment cost per order.

For low-value products such as apparel, accessories, small household goods and 3C accessories in particular, fees may account for a larger share of sales.

2. Profits for low-value products need to be recalculated

Going forward, tariffs plus the small parcel handling fee must be included in product profit calculations.

For products priced from just a few euros to more than ten euros, even a few euros of extra fees can significantly affect final profit margins. Sellers therefore need to recalculate product pricing, logistics methods and profit margins for their European sites.

3. Direct small-parcel shipping may face greater pressure

If the handling fee is ultimately charged per item, models that rely on delivering large volumes of low-value small parcels directly to consumers may face further cost pressure.

4. Customs responsibilities of platforms and sellers will increase

The EU's latest customs reform further clarifies the responsibilities of e-commerce platforms in the import process.

For goods sold to EU consumers by non-EU e-commerce platforms, the platform may be treated as the importer and required to bear responsibility for customs formalities, data submission and related fees.

For sellers, product information, declaration data, product classification and value declarations must all become more standardized.

5. Product compliance becomes more important

The fee increase is only one of the changes.

As the EU strengthens customs data and market surveillance, small parcels do not carry lower regulatory risk simply because they are small or low in value.

The EU has made it clear that it will further strengthen product safety, market surveillance, customs risk analysis, product data verification and compliance checks for imported goods.

Final note:

The EU is continuing to raise the overall costs and compliance requirements for cross-border small parcels entering the European market.

In particular, sellers with low-value, low-margin and high-order-volume products should recalculate product costs and profit models for the European market in advance, while preparing for VAT, EPR, customs and product compliance.

EU cross-border e-commerce regulation is tightening. Sellers need to plan ahead rather than wait until fees are officially implemented and then adjust.

That is the content shared by Yiju Overseas. Feel free to leave comments and discuss below!