The European Union has moved to slap a flat €3 customs duty on low-value e-commerce parcels, a step that directly targets Shein, Temu and AliExpress and marks a sharp escalation in Europe’s effort to rein in ultra-cheap imports. The measure, which took effect on July 1, is being cast by Brussels as both a trade correction and a consumer-protection reform, but it also threatens to reshape how cross-border bargain shopping works across the bloc.
A policy aimed at a booming import channel
In the heart of the rule change lies the decision by the European Union to end the existing long-time customs duty waiver on all packages that were less than €150 from other countries. As officials state, such an exemption had already become outdated in the age of massive online commerce. The need for change increased with the growing size of the market. According to Euronews, the EU gets more than two billion e-commerce shipments that cost less than €150 per year, while, according to Reuters, the number of such e-commerce packages sent to the EU under the exemption increased from 1.4 billion in 2022 to 5.8 billion in 2025.
Why Brussels moved now
The argument of the EU is that the previous system created unfair competition for the retailers of Europe and that the foreign websites benefited from an artificial price advantage. As per the report in Euronews, the European Council considers this new duty as both a response to unfair competition and to the safety of the goods, as well as the problem of fraud and the environmental impact of flooding Europe with low-cost goods. Dirk Gotink, a member of the European Parliament working on the Customs Reform dossier, called the exemption of the old system as incompatible with the realities of modern commerce. He told Reuters in an interview that
“The exemption was abused and misused on an industrial scale to create a competitive advantage at the expense of EU businesses.”
He further told Euronews in an interview that
“The urgency was so great that there was a deep political consensus.”
How the €3 fee works
This new tax is not like any other blanket tax imposed on all parcels in the same way. Rather, the charge is levied based on the custom classification of products within a shipment, which allows for a possible €3 tax for each distinct type of goods. This is important to note. Euronews reports that in case of a shipment containing a textile product, footwear and a technological device, the charge will amount to €9, since the three distinct Harmonised System codes are activated, but in the case of the presence of many similar types of products within the same shipment, there will only be one €3 tax. The Reuters report also confirms that the charge in a shipment of three different types of products will be €9, but in case of shipment of many dresses or many toys, the tax will only be €3.
The platforms under pressure
Shein, Temu, and AliExpress find themselves in the middle of the discussion because their business models rely entirely on the delivery of cheap goods directly to consumers. Reuters explains that Europe’s decision will be another blow to the platforms that gained popularity thanks to their ability to use customs exemptions in order to deliver ultra-cheap goods into the union. Euronews mentions that for a long time, companies such as SHEIN were able to use the so-called “de minimis” exemption, which allowed goods worth less than €150 to be delivered without paying any customs fees. As a result, foreign platforms were able to keep their prices low and beat out their European competitors who had higher operating costs. Reuters also informs that Shein has started changing its strategy by increasing warehouse space in Wroclaw, Poland.
Safety, fraud and compliance concerns
But the policy is not only about the issue of prices. In addition to price considerations, Brussels is attaching the reform to product safety, customs enforcement and consumer protection issues. According to Euronews, the new policy aims at dealing with the problem of product safety, cases of fraud and negative effects on the environment as a result of massive importation of cheap goods. This problem is very real because according to Euronews, consumer organizations found out that about 70% of the tested products did not conform or did not conform fully to the safety requirements of the EU, while Greenpeace Germany established that 32% of the tested clothes contained dangerous concentrations of hazardous substances such as heavy metals, formaldehyde and PFAS “forever chemicals.”
Liability shifts to platforms
The new rules also include an important legal aspect, as well as the financial one. As per the previous regulations, consumers were treated as the importer themselves since they had ordered the non-EU package. Platforms, in this case, functioned as intermediaries whose liabilities were rather limited. Thus, it meant that consumers themselves could be held responsible, at least legally, in the event of receiving some dangerous products. According to Euronews, the recent EU Customs Code Reform eliminates this protection by making online marketplaces deemed importers starting from March 26. In such way, they become liable according to EU product safety regulation which includes the General Product Safety Regulation and may face fines or bans of operations on the market if they don’t comply with the regulations.
Consumer impact
For shoppers, the immediate effect is likely to be higher prices and, at least temporarily, more friction at the border. Euronews says a typical low-cost online order worth €20 could exceed €30 once fees are added, depending on the mix of goods. In its example, a €10 summer dress and a €10 pair of sunglasses would attract two separate €3 duties, bringing the subtotal to €26 before any additional fees.
The customs charge is also separate from a proposed handling fee that is still being negotiated and is expected to be around €2. If that fee is added, Euronews says the same €20 basket could reach €28, representing a 40 per cent increase. Buyers may also face longer waits because customs agents will have to digitally screen every package and verify product category codes.
A wider customs overhaul
€3 fee is not the end point. According to Reuters, this fee is just a transitional one which will be replaced by duties based on categories starting from July 1, 2028, when the EU Customs Authority will start its work. The same opinion is expressed by Euronews which states that the fee will exist until the general system of taxes on low value imports will come into effect in 2028. This general reform includes EU Customs Data Hub that, according to Euronews, will become operational in 2028 and will eliminate €150 threshold completely thus taxing each item on dynamic basis starting from first cent.
The business calculation for Chinese platforms
Short-term actions to take include cost absorption, pricing increases, and logistics changes. According to Reuters, there will be an effort by the platforms to have suppliers absorb some of the increased costs in order to maintain competitive checkout prices. According to Euronews, companies may also have no option but to abandon their direct air mail strategy and establish EU-based fulfillment centers. This is going to cost money. According to Euronews, analysts project that a change to local fulfillment centers may cut profit margins by as much as 40 per cent. Non-compliance penalties on the other hand can go up to 6 percent of annual import value. According to Reuters, in May the U.S. repealed the de minimis exemptions of imports from China and by the end of August from all imports.
Europe’s competitive argument
For European brands and retailers, the new duty is being sold as a leveling measure. Euronews says the bloc’s domestic retailers have long complained that low-value duty-free imports created a price gap they could not match. Reuters echoes that point, saying the exemption was abused on an industrial scale and gave foreign platforms a competitive advantage at the expense of EU businesses.
Gotink framed the market distortion in stark terms.
“Tax avoidance on an industrial scale, basically,”
he said in remarks cited by Euronews. He also argued that the fast-fashion model is economically unsustainable because consumer goods are often used once and discarded, adding that he hopes the reform will stop
“non-compliant and overly cheap trade flows”.
The larger trade and policy picture
This fee is bigger than a parcel surcharge. It is part of a broader political effort to make cross-border e-commerce behave more like traditional trade, where safety, duties and compliance obligations are harder to avoid. It also signals that the EU is willing to use customs rules as an industrial policy tool, not just a revenue collection mechanism. For consumers, that may mean fewer bargain-bin surprises and more upfront transparency on duties and taxes. For platforms, it means the era of frictionless low-value shipping into Europe is ending, and the next stage of competition will depend less on loopholes and more on logistics, compliance and scale.
