Newsroom
The €3 charge on low-cost online orders was apparently only the beginning.
Less than two months after the European Union began charging customs duty on small packages arriving from outside the bloc, another fee is on the way, and that tempting €4 top or €6 gadget may no longer look quite so cheap by the time it reaches Cyprus.
From July 1, goods worth up to €150 and ordered directly from countries outside the EU became subject to a temporary €3 customs duty. The measure affects platforms such as Shein and Temu, whose business model has relied heavily on millions of small packages sent directly from China to European customers.
Now, the next stage of the EU’s customs overhaul introduces a separate handling fee to cover the growing cost of processing and checking those parcels. It must begin no later than Nov. 1, although Brussels has not yet finalized the amount or exactly how it will be collected.
The European Commission’s proposal has suggested a fee of up to €2 for a parcel sent directly to a customer. If that figure is adopted, the basic cost attached to a simple package could reach €5: the existing €3 customs duty plus the new €2 handling charge.
The fee is expected to be formally paid by the platform or seller. But, as every shopper knows, businesses rarely absorb additional costs out of pure generosity. The charge could ultimately be built into product prices, delivery fees or the final amount shown at checkout.
## It may cost more than €5
The existing duty is also slightly more complicated than a simple €3 charge on every parcel.
It is applied to each different category of goods listed in the customs declaration. Five identical T-shirts placed under the same tariff category would attract one €3 charge. But an order containing a T-shirt and a watch could attract two charges, bringing the customs duty to €6.
Add a possible €2 handling fee and that mixed order could carry €8 in additional costs, even before considering the original price of the products.
The final rules for calculating the new handling charge have not yet been decided, EU officials say.
A much lower proposed fee of €0.50 would apply when goods are imported in bulk, cleared through customs, and stored in an EU warehouse before being delivered to customers.
The difference is deliberate. Brussels wants to encourage platforms to move more stock into Europe, where larger shipments are easier to inspect and companies can be held more directly responsible for the products they sell.
The bargains are moving closer
Shein and Temu have already begun adapting.
Rather than sending every dress, phone case or kitchen gadget individually from China, the companies are increasingly moving large quantities of goods into European warehouses. Once those goods have cleared customs and entered the EU market, they can be delivered between member states without another customs check at each border.
For a customer in Cyprus, an item may still appear to come from the same app. Behind the scenes, however, it could begin its final journey from Poland, Belgium or another European logistics center instead of travelling directly from China.
Shein has established a major European logistics hub in Wroclaw, Poland, while Temu is working with local sellers and delivery networks as it moves towards having more of its European orders fulfilled from within Europe.
Italy tried it—and the parcels changed direction
Italy offers an early warning of how quickly the market can work around national charges.
Rome introduced a €2 fee on low-value parcels arriving directly from outside the EU at the beginning of 2026. Rather than reducing consumer demand, the measure changed where the goods entered Europe.
Direct low-value imports into Italy fell by 36% during the first 20 days of January compared with the same period a year earlier. At least 30 cargo flights intended for Milan’s Malpensa Airport were reportedly redirected to Liège, Amsterdam and Budapest.
The goods were cleared in other EU countries and then carried into Italy by road, avoiding the Italian entry charge while taking customs activity and logistics business elsewhere, according to a Financial Times report.
The lesson for Brussels was clear: if each country applies different charges, companies will simply search for the cheapest doorway into Europe.
More information—and fewer mystery packages
Another important change takes effect Nov. 1. Low-value customs declarations will have to contain clearer product identifiers, giving authorities more information about exactly what is inside each package.
That should make it easier to spot counterfeit goods, dangerous products and shipments whose contents or value have been wrongly declared.
The scale of the challenge is enormous. Nearly 5.9 billion low-value products were sent directly to EU customers from outside the bloc in 2025. In targeted inspections of items including cosmetics, toys, food supplements, electronics and protective equipment, more than 60% failed to meet European requirements because of problems such as missing labels, banned ingredients or absent safety documents, according to a European Commission report.
The €3 duty is expected to remain until July 2028, when the exemption previously enjoyed by goods worth under €150 will disappear permanently and normal customs rates will apply according to the product.
There is not yet enough EU-wide data to say whether the first charge has caused orders from Shein and Temu to collapse. The more visible change is happening behind the checkout screen: bigger shipments, more European warehouses and additional costs quietly folded into prices.
The ultra-cheap online order is unlikely to disappear. But for shoppers in Cyprus, the days when a tiny package could travel halfway around the world and arrive without a customs bill are already over.
