EU starts €2 handling fee on online imports by product category

The European Union starts charging a €2 handling fee on qualifying online purchases shipped from outside the bloc on Sunday 1 November. The charge is calculated by product category within a shipment, with importers responsible for paying it.

The measure affects imports associated with platforms such as Shein, Temu and AliExpress. It is intended to fund customs checks and comes on top of a separate €3 duty introduced in July for low-value imports.

Consumer organisations support stronger checks on imported products but warn that sellers could recover the extra cost through prices or delivery charges. The new fee does not establish that every purchase on those platforms will become more expensive.

How the category charge works

The handling fee is not necessarily a flat €2 for an entire parcel, nor is it charged separately on every physical item inside it. What matters is how the goods are classified for customs.

El Correo gives the example of a parcel containing one T-shirt or five identical T-shirts: either would incur one €2 handling fee. A parcel containing a T-shirt and a watch would attract a €4 fee because it contains different types of goods.

The handling fee and the customs duty are separate charges and can apply to the same shipment. The temporary €3 duty began on 1 July 2026 for low-value imports below €150. That duty is also calculated by product category.

Its purpose is to levy customs duty on goods that previously benefited from a low-value exemption. The handling fee instead finances the work involved in processing and checking imports.

Who pays, and what shoppers may see

Platforms, sellers or other operators responsible for the import must handle the customs obligations and make the payments. The obligation does not fall directly on the final buyer.

That leaves open the commercial decision over whether a business absorbs the cost or includes it in the price of goods or delivery. Consumer groups have raised particular concerns about charges appearing late in the checkout process.

EU rules require the full price to be disclosed before the customer places the order. CECU, the Spanish consumer federation, has welcomed the additional checks while saying consumers should not have to pay the new fee themselves.

Where goods are dispatched from also matters. A purchase shipped directly from outside the EU is not in the same position as an item already held in an EU warehouse.

More resources for customs checks

The fee is intended to support checks on shipment data, risk assessments and physical inspections where needed. The EU also wants to improve product safety and reduce the competitive imbalance between businesses based in the bloc and sellers shipping from outside it.

Agustín Reyna, director general of the European Consumer Organisation, BEUC, said the priority should be for importers to pay and for governments to use the money to strengthen customs protection. BEUC says the measure’s effectiveness will depend on those resources reaching the controls they are meant to fund.

The wider reform increases platforms’ responsibility for customs compliance and product safety. It also provides for a European Customs Authority based in Lille, France, and a shared customs data system.

The temporary €3 duty is scheduled to run until 1 July 2028. The planned e-commerce customs data platform would then allow ordinary duties for individual types of goods to replace that fixed charge.