May 21, 2026

The EU is removing the €150 customs duty exemption on 1 July 2026. Here is what is actually changing, and what is not.

If you sell physical goods into the European Union, you have likely seen a wave of emails, LinkedIn posts, and webinar invitations about the end of EU “de minimis” on 1 July 2026. Some of them are accurate. Many of them are not.

We have had several clients ask us what is real, what is hype, and whether Euverify can help. This post is our answer to all three.

A note up front: customs duty and tariff classification are outside Euverify’s service scope. We are a product regulatory representative covering GPSR, GDPR Article 27, Cosmetics Responsible Person, MDR/IVDR, DSA Article 13, EPREL, and Digital Product Passport. We are not a customs broker, not an indirect customs representative, and we do not file customs declarations on behalf of importers. We’re writing this because the change is being widely misrepresented, and our clients deserve accurate information regardless of whether it sells one of our services

The EU is removing the €150 customs duty exemption on 1 July 2026 

From 1 July 2026, the EU is removing the long-standing customs duty exemption for parcels valued at 150 euros or less entering the EU from non-EU countries. In its place, a temporary flat-rate customs duty of 3 euros will apply to in-scope low-value B2C consignments. The duty is charged per item category (per tariff heading), not per parcel. The Council of the European Union gave final legislative approval to the new rules on 11 February 2026, and the underlying regulation was published on 30 April 2026.

That is the change. Everything else is detailed.

The Key Details

What the 3-Euro Duty Actually Covers

The 3-euro flat rate primarily applies to B2C consignments under 150 euros entering the EU where the non-EU seller is registered in the EU’s Import One-Stop Shop (IOSS) for VAT purposes. It also applies to postal consignments.

It is charged per HS6 tariff line, not per parcel. A parcel containing one type of product attracts one 3-euro charge. A parcel containing three distinct product types (say, a smartphone, a charger, and a pair of earphones) attracts three separate 3-euro charges. This is the single most commonly misreported point in press coverage of this change.

What Falls Outside the Scope

• B2B VAT-registered imports are not in scope of the flat rate.
• Non-IOSS commercial shipments under 150 euros will continue to clear via the H7 simplified declaration, but with duty calculated at the standard tariff rate rather than the flat 3 euros.
• C2C consignments between genuine private individuals (under existing thresholds) remain exempt.
• Shipments over 150 euros were never in scope of de minimis and are unchanged by this measure. They continue to attract normal customs duty under standard tariff classification.

The 3-Euro Rate Is a Bridge Measure

The flat rate is explicitly interim. When the EU Customs Data Hub becomes fully operational (current target: mid-2028), the flat rate will be replaced by full classification-based duties tied to HS code and country of origin, applied to all goods regardless of value. There is a built-in legislative review point: by 1 December 2027, the Commission must assess Data Hub readiness and may propose extending the transitional regime if implementation slips.

Other Charges Arriving in Parallel

The 3-euro duty is the EU-level measure. Several national and EU-level charges are arriving at the same time:

Belgium has also reported a 2-euro fee with implementation details still unclear. National fees are legally distinct from EU customs duty and VAT, and prepaying VAT through IOSS does not eliminate them.

The Product Data Requirement That Is Getting Overlooked

This is the part that receives the least attention but matters most for the long term. From 1 November 2026, low-value distance sale customs declarations are expected to require up to three product identifiers per line:

1. Merchant Product Identifier — typically the seller’s SKU.
2. Manufacturer Product Identifier — the manufacturer’s product code.
3. A standardised global identifier — GTIN, EAN, or UPC where one exists.

This is a real change in how product data must be communicated across the customs chain, and it is the closest direct overlap with the regulatory work Euverify does.

What This Change Is, and What It Is Not

It is a customs duty change. It alters landed cost, pricing strategy, and the economics of EU fulfilment for direct-to-consumer flows. It tightens data requirements at the border and closes a loophole that had been widely used for undervaluation.

It is not a product safety regulation. It is not a market surveillance reform. It is not an authorised representative or responsible person obligation. Your obligations under GPSR, the Cosmetics Regulation, MDR/IVDR, the GDPR, the DSA, the Toy Safety Regulation, and the upcoming ESPR/Digital Product Passport framework are entirely unaffected by the de minimis removal. They were already in force; they remain in force; their scope and triggers are unchanged.

This distinction matters because some of the language being used in vendor communications blurs the line between customs compliance (a tariff and declarations matter) and regulatory compliance (a product safety and consumer protection matter). They are different disciplines, with different professionals, different evidence bases, and different consequences.

What Euverify Does, and Does Not, Handle Here

We think it is worth being direct about this, because our clients have asked.

Euverify does not:

• File customs declarations
• Act as an importer of record
• Classify goods to HS or CN codes
• Calculate duties or tariffs
• Provide customs brokerage of any kind
• Sell HS classification audits or duty optimisation services

Euverify does:

• Act as your Authorised Representative under GPSR (and the equivalent UK product safety regime)
• Act as your GDPR Article 27 Representative in the EU and the UK
• Act as your Responsible Person under the Cosmetics Regulation
• Act as your Authorised Representative under MDR and IVDR for medical devices and IVDs
• Act as your DSA Article 13 Legal Representative
• Manage EPREL product registrations for energy-related products
• Support you on the Digital Product Passport as the framework rolls out

For the customs side of the 1 July change, your freight forwarder, customs broker, or logistics provider is the right counterparty. If you do not have one, that is the gap to fill — not a regulatory representative agreement.

Where the Regulatory and Customs Worlds Connect

There is one meaningful overlap, and it sits in the product identifier requirement coming on 1 November 2026.

The SKU plus manufacturer product ID plus GTIN/EAN/UPC structure that low-value declarations will require is the same product data framework that the EU Digital Product Passport will require under ESPR delegated acts, starting with textiles and expanding across product categories from 2027 onwards. It is the same data structure we already built into GPSR technical files for our AR clients, and the same backbone EPREL submissions depend on.

Brands that already maintain clean product master data (reliable SKUs, manufacturer references, GTINs assigned and validated) will handle both the November customs identifier requirement and the DPP rollout without much friction. Brands that do not will run into both gaps within a year of each other.

If product data discipline is something you have been meaning to address, the next 18 months are when the cost of not doing so starts to show up in two different places.

A Note on the Marketing Emails

If you have received outreach this month from a customs-tech vendor warning that the 1 July deadline is a “compliance emergency” and that every SKU in your catalogue needs to be audited and reclassified before the changes come into effect, read it carefully.

HS classification is a long-established discipline. It has existed for decades, it is well-served by experienced customs brokers and freight forwarders, and your existing logistics partner is almost certainly already thinking about it. The 3-euro deadline is real. The need to overhaul your entire catalogue under time pressure usually is not. Get a second opinion from your customs broker before signing anything.

Sources

• Council of the European Union — Customs: Council agrees to levy customs duty on small parcels as of 1 July 2026 (12 December 2025)
• Council of the European Union — Modernising the EU customs union (final agreement, 26 March 2026)
• European Commission, Directorate-General for Taxation and Customs Union — E-commerce: 150 EUR customs duty exemption threshold to be removed as of 2026 (13 November 2025)
• Regulation published 30 April 2026, effective 1 July 2026

Euverify is your EU and UK regulatory compliance partner covering GPSR, GDPR, Cosmetics, MDR/IVDR, DSA, EPREL, and Digital Product Passport. We are not a customs broker. If you have a question about your regulatory representation in the EU or UK, get in touch.