Flat-rate duty of three euros per category: What online shoppers face from 1 July

Everyday examples

At the same time, shipments below a certain threshold remain exempt from duty, provided the goods fall into a single category. If a customer orders, say, 5 T-shirts, only 3 euros will be charged, since all items fall into one category. This is intended to prevent small, uniform orders from being disproportionately burdened, while orders with many different items are asked to pay more.

Background: Why the EU is acting

The background to the flat-rate duty is the rising workload involved in monitoring the millions of parcels entering the EU every day. According to figures from the European Council, EU customs offices processed nearly 1.4 billion consignments in 2024. Of these, 112 million were seized as counterfeits, and a further around 64,000 shipments were withheld because of a health risk to consumers.

Overall, EU customs offices collected nearly 27 billion euros in duties in 2024. Trade via platforms such as Temu, Shein & Co. has caused this volume to grow sharply in recent years and has put customs authorities under pressure. With the reform, the EU is responding to criticism that foreign online giants are flooding the European market with cheap products without domestic providers having a fair chance.

Voices from the business community

The trade association sees the reform as a long-overdue step. "The EU-wide flat-rate duty is an important step so that Europe no longer remains the madhouse of global online trade, but becomes a fairer competitive space," Managing Director Rainer Will is quoted as saying in a press release. He emphasises that the measure is intended to offset the competitive disadvantage faced by European retailers.

Outlook: Customs reform by 2028

The flat 3-euro duty is, however, only an interim solution. From the middle of 2028, the "EU Customs Data Hub" is set to help determine applicable customs fees on a case-by-case basis and further automate the inspection workload. Until then, the simple category rule is regarded as a pragmatic compromise between reducing bureaucracy and ensuring fair competition.

For consumers, the reform means above all one thing: anyone who continues to order regularly from Temu, AliExpress or similar platforms should compare prices and bundle orders in order to keep the number of categories low. Smaller retailers below the 100-million-euro threshold are not affected by the flat rate, which is intended to level the competitive conditions within the EU single market.