The European Union plans to apply a €2 handling fee on small packages entering the EU.

Trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič told the European parliament the fee will offset the costs from importing items.

According to the Financial Times, which has seen the European Commission’s draft proposal, the €2 fee would apply to purchases sent to directly to customers whilst items sent to warehouses would be taxed at €0.50.

Over 90 per cent of packages imported to the EU come from China and in 2024 around 4.6 billion parcels were imported.

Šefčovič said that part of the fee would go towards the required customs checks.
Additionally, he said that to simplify processes and tap into the full potential of data, the EU will launch a Custom Data Hub, a common IT system that serves both business and customs authorities.

The move could save customs authorities and businesses around €2 billion.

“From a business perspective, the Hub means that they provide their data only once, and it can be re-used along the process; they save time, and they can operate in any Member States through the same IT tool,” Šefčovič said. “From national customs authorities' perspective, it means a comprehensive overview of trade flows, instead of replicated data in silos, and a better capacity to analyse and detect suspicious trade flows.”

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