Customs: The EU will introduce a temporary tariff of €3 per shipment in e-commerce from July 2026 (continued).

As we mentioned in previous newsletters, following the agreement reached on December 12 by the European Union’s finance ministers, on February 11, 2026, the Council of the European Union formally approved Regulation (EU) 2026/382, which definitively ends the exemption from customs duties for low-value imports. This regulation, published on February 18, will enter into force on July 1, 2026, with the aim of combating fraud and ensuring fair competition between third-country e-commerce platforms and EU companies.

The main change is the definitive elimination of the customs exemption that until now exempted shipments with a value of less than €150 from customs duties. The increase in the volume of low-value imports following the explosive growth of e-commerce and the resulting facilitations made it difficult for customs authorities to monitor
compliance with tax and non-tax obligations, making intervention necessary to protect the Union’s financial interests more efficiently.

As a transitional measure, in force from July 2026 to July 2028, a simplified customs duty of €3 per item will be applied to shipments not exceeding €150. This fixed tariff has specific conditions of application: it will be used for operators registered with the Import Single Window (IOSS) and for goods contained in postal consignments. On the other hand, operators who are not registered with the IOSS regime will have to pay the ordinary common customs tariff corresponding to the product nomenclature.

This system will serve as a bridge until the Union’s new centralized IT infrastructure, scheduled for 2028, is operational, which will allow for more effective calculation and notification of customs debt. However, the regulation includes a safeguard clause: from October 2026, the Commission will assess on a monthly basis whether there are any deviations in trade flows to avoid payment of this fixed duty. If irregularities are
detected or if the new technology platform suffers delays, the transitional measure of €3 could be extended or prolonged beyond 2028.