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What actually changed for parcels on 1 July 2026?

On 1 July 2026, Council Regulation (EU) 2026/382 removed the customs exemption for consignments up to €150 — the rule that had let the vast majority of e-commerce parcels enter the EU duty-free. Since that date every commercial import owes customs duty; the only question is which of two regimes calculates it.

The scale explains the reform: around 4.6 billion low-value parcels entered the EU in 2024 — roughly 12 million a day — about 91% of them from China, with volumes climbing toward an estimated 5.9 billion items in 2025.

The fork: IOSS or not

If the seller is registered for IOSS — the norm on Temu, Shein, AliExpress and Amazon — VAT was already collected at your checkout on goods plus shipping, and customs adds a flat €3 for every distinct HS6 tariff line in the consignment. Two product types, two lines; five identical units, one line.

If the seller is not registered, there is no flat charge. The consignment is declared under the H7 procedure and pays the standard EU tariff rate for its HS code, then import VAT on goods plus shipping plus that duty, and almost always a carrier advancement fee on top.

What the reform did not touch

Orders above €150 continue under the ordinary customs regime they were always in. Genuine gifts sent between private individuals stay duty- and VAT-free up to €45 of intrinsic value. And goods dispatched from a warehouse inside the EU — much of Amazon's catalogue — never cross the customs border at all, so none of this applies to them.

The moving parts still ahead

Three things to watch. The flat duty is transitional, scheduled to yield to full per-product tariffs via the EU Customs Data Hub on July 1, 2028. A separate EU-wide handling fee on low-value parcels is proposed, with the amount and start date expected in autumn 2026. And several member states have floated national charges of their own. Each of those, when it lands, changes the arithmetic again.

Run your own order through the calculator

Frequently asked questions

Do I now pay customs duty on every Temu or Shein order?
On orders shipped from outside the EU, yes — duty applies in one of two forms. Marketplace checkouts with IOSS trigger the flat €3 per distinct HS6 tariff line; sellers without IOSS trigger the standard tariff for the product instead. The size of the bill depends on how many product types you combined and which clearance path the seller uses.
What is IOSS?
The Import One-Stop Shop, an EU VAT registration that lets a seller or marketplace charge your country's VAT at checkout on low-value consignments and remit it centrally. It predates the 2026 reform. Its role grew on 1 July 2026 because IOSS registration now also determines which duty regime applies: the flat per-line charge with it, the standard tariff without it.
Why did the EU abolish the de-minimis exemption?
Volume and fairness. Around 4.6 billion exempt parcels arrived in 2024, straining customs capacity and undercutting EU retailers who sell at duty- and VAT-inclusive prices. Abolition brings low-value e-commerce into the duty net immediately via a simple flat charge, while the Customs Data Hub is built to handle proper per-product tariffs at parcel scale from 2028.
Are gifts from family abroad affected?
Largely no. Consignments sent occasionally between private individuals with no payment involved remain exempt from duty and VAT up to €45 of intrinsic value. Above that, the parcel is treated as a normal import. Note that buying from a private seller is a purchase, not a gift — the relief covers genuinely free-of-charge shipments between individuals only.
Did anything change for orders above €150 in July 2026?
No — those consignments sit outside the scope of the reform entirely. They have always been charged the normal tariff on their customs value, plus import VAT and carrier fees, and that treatment carried straight through 1 July 2026 without amendment. Only sub-threshold consignments got a new regime, and only sub-threshold consignments need this site's two-path logic.

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