The European Union's new €2 handling fee on parcels ordered online from outside the bloc is now in force, adding a further charge to cross-border shopping just as the peak Christmas buying season approaches. The fee, known as the Union handling fee, has applied since 1 November 2026 to goods sold in distance sales to consumers in the EU and released for free circulation.

The amount is set by Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/2152, adopted on 21 September and published in the Official Journal on 22 October. Article 1 of the regulation states plainly that the fee "shall be EUR 2 per item", and Article 2 says it applies from 1 November 2026. The regulation, signed by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, is binding in all member states.

The charge is per item, not per parcel, and an item is not the same as a single unit. Goods sharing the same tariff classification count as one item, so a parcel holding five identical T-shirts pays €2, while a parcel with a T-shirt and a watch pays €4. That distinction matters for shoppers and sellers alike, because a basket of different products can attract several fees even when it arrives in a single box.

The fee sits on top of the temporary €3 customs duty per item that has applied since 1 July 2026 to consignments worth €150 or less. Together, the two charges mean a single-line low-value parcel now carries €5 in EU charges before VAT. Unlike the €3 duty, the €2 fee has no value ceiling: it also applies to distance-sale consignments worth more than €150.

There is also a difference in how long each charge will last. The €3 duty is temporary and is due to end on 1 July 2028, when normal product-specific duty rates return under the EU Customs Data Hub. The €2 handling fee has no end date. The Commission is required to report every two years on the costs of customs handling, so that the level of the fee can be reviewed and adjusted to reflect what the work actually costs.

The fee is owed by the customs declarant, usually the seller, the importer, the holder of an Import One Stop Shop registration, or their representative, rather than directly by the shopper. The Commission has said the duty is not a tax on consumers, but sellers can pass the cost on in their prices, and the fee forms part of the VAT taxable amount, so VAT is charged on it. It is also non-refundable: the fee remains due even if the goods are returned, including faulty goods.

The same 1 November date brought another change for sellers. Product identifiers became mandatory on customs declarations for distance-sale consignments worth up to €150, after a voluntary period since July. Each item now needs a merchant product identifier and a manufacturer identifier, plus a standardised code such as an EAN where one exists. Missing identifiers can hold up clearance, so sellers have been told to make sure their product data reaches their carrier or customs broker.

The fee is the first part of the EU's new Union Customs Code, Regulation (EU) 2026/2108, adopted on 16 September 2026, to take effect. The wider reform shifts more responsibility for duty payment and compliance onto non-EU platforms and sellers, creates a new EU Customs Authority, due to be set up in Lille in 2027, and will make the EU Customs Data Hub mandatory for e-commerce from 1 July 2028.

For shoppers, the practical effect is that cheap orders from outside the EU are no longer as cheap as they were before July. A €10 basket of three different products, for example, would now carry €9 of duty and €6 of handling fees before VAT is added. Sellers face a choice in the run-up to Christmas: absorb the charges, build them into checkout prices, or risk slower clearance by leaving product data incomplete.