In brief
- From 1 November 2026, the European Union charges a customs handling fee of €2 per item on goods sold at a distance to a consumer and shipped from a country outside the Union.
- It comes on top of the flat €3 customs duty per item applied since 1 July 2026 to parcels worth €150 or less. Unlike that duty, it applies whatever the value, is not temporary and is never refunded, even if the customer sends the parcel back.
- It is counted per customs declaration line, not per piece: three identical T-shirts make one line, a T-shirt, a jacket and a pair of trousers make three.
- On our calculation, an order of three different items worth €140 shipped from China now carries €15 of fixed customs charges, against €9 in October and nothing before July.
- On the same day, the declaration must carry a product identifier for each item in these parcels.
The €2 customs fee applies from 1 November 2026 to every item sold to a consumer in the Union and shipped from a third country, whatever its value. It affects sellers shipping from stock held outside the Union, whether through dropshipping or from a warehouse in the United Kingdom, Switzerland or Asia. It does not affect sales from stock held inside the Union, nor business-to-business sales.
How we checked On 13 October 2026 we read the European Commission’s guidance on the €3 duty and the handling fee, in its version of 5 October 2026, and the official customs reform page, which announced on 7 October that the fee would apply from 1 November. The amounts in our examples follow from those rules; we calculated them ourselves. The sources are listed at the end of the article.
What is the €2 customs handling fee from 1 November?
It is a fee customs authorities charge for the work of releasing goods sold at a distance into free circulation: data checks, risk analysis, document and physical controls. It was created by the new Union Customs Code, in force since 20 September 2026, in its Article 20. Its amount is set at €2 by a Commission delegated act, still under scrutiny by the Parliament and the Council on 5 October. The Commission announces that it will apply from 1 November 2026.
Three of its features matter for a merchant. It is fixed: €2, whatever the value of the item. It is not temporary, unlike the flat €3 duty, which is planned until 1 July 2028. And it is never refunded: the new code says so expressly, once the customs declaration has been accepted.
Who pays it, and who is not affected?
It targets “distance sales of goods imported”: goods shipped by the seller, or on the seller’s behalf, from a third country to a customer in a Member State, when that customer is a consumer. Four seller profiles are directly affected:
- dropshipping from a supplier outside the Union, the most exposed case;
- a European brand shipping from stock in the United Kingdom or Switzerland, a common set-up since Brexit;
- a seller established outside the Union delivering to European consumers;
- the marketplace on which these sales take place, since the regulation places payment and compliance on platforms, sellers or carriers rather than on the consumer.
Sales from stock held inside the Union, which cross no customs border, are not affected, and neither are business-to-business sales, which fall outside the definition of a distance sale. For every other merchant, the effect is indirect but real: the price advantage of shops shipping directly from Asia shrinks again, after a first step on 1 July.
How much does a parcel cost from 1 November 2026?
It all depends on a notion sellers know little about: the item, in the customs sense. The new code defines it as one or more goods in the same consignment that share the same tariff classification, the same description and, where declared, the same origin. The Commission guidance specifies that in practice, because of IT systems, the €3 duty and the €2 fee apply per declaration line, whatever the quantity on that line.
Here is what it means, on our calculation, for parcels worth €150 or less shipped from China to a customer in France, excluding VAT and carrier fees.
| Parcel | Declaration lines | Fixed duty and fee, from 1 November |
|---|---|---|
| Three identical T-shirts, €45 | 1 | 3 + 2 = €5 (€3 between July and October, €0 before July) |
| A T-shirt, a jacket and trousers, €140 | 3 | 3 × 5 = €15 (€9 between July and October, €0 before July) |
| One coat, €220 | 1 | No flat €3 duty above €150: normal duties, plus the €2 fee |
The same basket value can therefore cost five euros or fifteen depending on what is in it. For a seller who offers outfits or encourages customers to add items, it is a cost that rises with the variety of the basket, exactly where they expected to grow the average order.
What happens when the customer returns the parcel?
The charges stay. The fee is never refunded. For the €3 duty, the guidance points out that you can no longer request the invalidation of the declaration for a consignment of €150 or less returned after release for free circulation: the facility that made it possible to recover duties disappears, and only the general refund rules of the customs code remain. Under the special arrangement for postal operators and carriers, the guidance specifies that the VAT charged on the fee is refunded with the rest of the VAT when the goods are returned; the fee itself is not.
For a seller with a high return rate, particularly in clothing, each return now costs the outbound trip, the return trip, and these five euros per line, lost. That is one more argument for holding stock inside the Union as soon as volume allows.
Which product identifier must be declared from 1 November?
The same date marks the start of enforced application of a second obligation that has gone largely unnoticed: for goods in these parcels of €150 or less sold to consumers, the declaration must carry product identifiers for each item. It had been optional since 1 July, with no penalties during that trial period; failures are penalised from 1 November.
Three identifiers are provided for. The merchant identifier, assigned by the shop, marketplace or platform that organises the offer, is required in every case. On top of it come the manufacturer’s identifier, and its standardised identifier where one exists. The guidance warns that choosing an identifier at batch or piece level to avoid model-level checks will be treated as an infringement. For a seller the consequence is simple: a catalogue without its own stable references per model can no longer be declared properly.
What remains uncertain The delegated act setting the €2 was still under scrutiny on 5 October 2026, and the 1 November date depends on its publication. The Commission nevertheless announces application from that date on its official page. National taxes on small parcels also exist or have existed in several countries: they are a matter for each State and are not covered here.
What should you do before 1 November?
- Map your flows: which orders leave stock held outside the Union for consumers inside it? If the answer is none, only the competitive effect concerns you.
- Recalculate your cost per order using the number of declaration lines, not the number of parcels. A basket of three different items carries three fees.
- Review your returns policy on these flows: customs charges no longer come back.
- Decide who shows the cost: built into the price, or charged at checkout. It is the choice between delivered duty paid and duties due on arrival, which we cover in our article on who pays customs duties.
- Check your product identifiers: one unique, stable merchant reference per model, and the manufacturer’s identifier when you have it.
- Ask whether stock should be in the Union: beyond a certain volume, a warehouse inside the Union removes the flat duty, the fee and the cost of returns all at once.
What this says about the bigger picture
In four months, the Union has closed the small-parcel blind spot: exemption abolished in July, handling fee in November, mandatory product identifiers, and a customs data platform announced for 2028, when normal duties will replace the flat rate. The message is consistent: cost and responsibility move from the consumer to the seller and the platform.
For a European merchant this is not only a constraint. It is a rebalancing of competition they can use, provided they have done the calculation for their own flows. That flow-by-flow costing is what we do through our e-commerce and marketplaces expertise.
Sources
All of these pages were opened on 13 October 2026.
- European Commission, DG Taxation and Customs Union, “The temporary EUR 3 customs duty and the Union handling fee, Guidance for Member States and Trade”, version of 5 October 2026. View
- European Commission, “EU Customs Reform”, news of 7 October 2026 and 21 September 2026. View
- Council Regulation (EU) 2026/382 of 11 February 2026 (temporary flat €3 duty), EUR-Lex. View
- Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/1022 (product identifiers), EUR-Lex. View
- Delegated act C(2026)6694 setting the amount of the fee, Commission register of documents. View
FAQ
What is the €2 EU customs handling fee from 1 November 2026?
It is a handling fee charged by EU customs from 1 November 2026, a fixed €2 per item, on any goods sold at a distance to a consumer in the Union and shipped from a third country, whatever their value. It comes on top of the flat €3 duty per item applied since 1 July to parcels of €150 or less. It is not temporary and is never refunded.
Does the €2 apply per parcel or per item?
Per item in the customs sense, that is per declaration line: goods in the same consignment sharing the same tariff classification, description and origin form a single item. According to the Commission guidance, the €3 and the €2 apply per line whatever the quantity. Three identical T-shirts pay once; a T-shirt, a jacket and trousers pay three times.
I sell from inside the EU to EU customers: am I affected?
Not if your stock is in the Union: a sale with no customs border crossing is not a distance sale of imported goods. You are if you ship from stock outside the Union, for example in the United Kingdom, in Switzerland or from an Asian supplier in dropshipping. Business-to-business sales are not affected.
Are the €3 and €2 refunded if the customer returns the parcel?
No. The €2 fee is never refunded. For the €3 duty, it is no longer possible to request the invalidation of the declaration for a consignment of €150 or less returned after release for free circulation; only the general refund rules remain. Under the special arrangement for postal operators, only the VAT charged on the fee is refunded.
Can Dotsland help?
Yes. We work out with you the real cost of each flow, with and without stock in the Union, and the pricing and returns policy that follows. Start with the flow mapping described above, then get in touch.