The EU Small Parcel Levy is a customs duty applied to all low-value parcels entering the EU. The €3 charge will come into effect on the 1st of July 2026 and applies EU-wide. It applies to each item in a consignment, according to its tariff headings.
The levy is a temporary measure to address what the EU considers an urgent issue. It will last until the customs reforms agreed in November 2025 come into effect in 2028.
The levy is being used to tackle the four issues that the 2028 customs reforms hope to address:
Being able to import goods duty-free puts non-EU businesses at a major advantage over their domestic competitors. The levy aims to balance things back out. It also hopes to alleviate the burden caused by the sheer number of parcels entering the EU. In 2024, an average of 12 million small items crossed the border every day. The volume has put an immense administrative burden on customs systems. The levy hopes to reduce the number of parcels and recoup some of the operating costs involved.
Reducing the number of parcels crossing the border would also make it easier to enforce product safety, environmental and compliance standards. The lack of oversight has resulted in a rise in unsafe, non-compliant goods entering the market.
Import One Stop Shop (IOSS) is an EU VAT scheme. One of the key advantages of registering for IOSS was the duty exemption. Low-value shipments (those worth up to EUR 150) could be imported into the single market duty-free.
The EU Small Parcel Levy will apply to all low-value parcels entering the EU, including those shipped under IOSS. Starting the 1st of July, you will have to pay the levy, even when shipping goods under IOSS.
This levy, and the parallel versions implemented by some EU countries, are customs fees. Value Added Tax (VAT) and import VAT are entirely separate. You can't report customs duties on your VAT or IOSS returns, or pay them with your VAT payment.
The Small Parcel Levy is a stop-gap measure, intended to last until the EU Customs Data Hub is up and running. It’s not expected to come online until 2028, when other major changes to the €150 import threshold will come into effect. One of those changes is a €2 customs handling fee, intended to cover customs processing costs.
On top of the Small Parcel Levy, some EU countries are introducing their own national parcel handling fees. Some fees are already active, whilst others are still being discussed. They’re all charged by parcel and are in addition to the EU Small Parcel Levy. For example, if you import one small item into Italy, you’ll pay €5 in duties. That’s three euros from the EU levy and another two from the Italian levy.
| Country | Levy | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Belgium | Withdrawn | |
| France | €2 per parcel (low-value goods only) | Proposed |
| Italy | €2 per parcel (low-value goods only) | Active |
| The Netherlands | Postponed | |
| Romania | €5 per parcel (low-value goods only) | Active |
I’ll also mention the United Kingdom here, which, whilst not in the EU, is looking to take similar measures. It was confirmed in the November 2025 budget that the UK will remove the £135 de minimis by March 2029. After that, all low-value parcels entering the UK will be subject to customs duties.
In November 2025, the Belgian government had agreed to introduce its own small parcels tax. It was going to be a €2 flat fee and was expected to raise 140 million euros for Belgium in 2026 alone. However, it has been withdrawn, to be replaced by the EU-wide levy.
The French version of the national parcel duty was a part of the nation's 2026 Finance Bill. The French National Assembly rejected the bill on the 22nd of November 2025. This has halted all measures in the bill, from e-invoicing to the small parcel levy.
Italy has applied a two-euro administrative levy to low-value goods imported from outside the EU. The Italian customs authority has confirmed that it applies universally, regardless of the transaction type. That means whether your business is B2B or B2C, you’ll have to pay the duty. Italian customs will collect the levy at the time of final import clearance.
The Netherlands had proposed its own levy but has postponed it to gauge the impact of the EU-wide duty. A possible two-euro handling fee might be introduced in November 2026. Three major implementation challenges were noted in the proposal stages:
It makes sense with these in mind why the Ministry of Finance was willing to wait and see what happens across the EU. Implementation of the national-level duty will require Senate approval and, presumably, positive results from the EU-wide change.
Romania’s non-EU imports levy is already active, having come into effect in January 2026. It is a fixed 25 leu (five euro) fee on low-value consignments. Goods in transit (on their way to another country) and returned parcels are exempt from the fee.
