The EU €3 parcel duty and the end of the €150 de minimis

Until 30 June 2026, goods worth €150 or less could enter the EU without customs duty. Council Regulation (EU) 2026/382 deleted that relief from 1 July 2026. Since then, low value alone no longer exempts goods from customs duty.^{⁠[1]Source 1}

For the smallest consignments, the regulation sets a temporary flat rate: €3 per item in a consignment worth €150 or less that’s sold online to a consumer in the EU (a distance sale). Since 1 July 2026 that applies however the parcel travels, by post or courier, and whether or not the seller uses IOSS, the EU’s import VAT scheme for online sellers. It runs until 1 July 2028.^{⁠[1]Source 1⁠[10]Source 10⁠[11]Source 11}

Imports that aren’t sold online to a consumer, such as business-to-business shipments, pay the normal rate in the EU’s Common Customs Tariff for each product. Import VAT is generally charged on top.^{⁠[1]Source 1⁠[6]Source 6⁠[10]Source 10}

The flat rate applies only when all of these are true. Slide the value to see which side of the line a consignment falls.

• A mixed order counts each kind of item. A T-shirt, a notebook and a bottle sit in different tariff classifications, so an online order of all three worth €150 or less pays €3 three times: €9 in duty, before import VAT.^{⁠[1]Source 1⁠[2]Source 2⁠[10]Source 10}
• Ten of the same item still count once. An online order of identical caps is one item category, so the flat duty is €3 however many caps are inside, as long as the order stays within €150.^{⁠[2]Source 2⁠[3]Source 3}
• Company gifts: check before you send. The €3 targets online sales to consumers, and a company gift isn’t sold to the person receiving it. The Commission’s guidance doesn’t cover gift shipments, so confirm the duty and handling with your carrier or customs broker before you send.^{⁠[10]Source 10⁠[11]Source 11}
• The €150 line is for the whole consignment. A box of several gifts for one person is valued as one consignment. Over €150, the flat rate is off the table and every item pays its normal rate.^{⁠[1]Source 1}

Edge cases worth knowing.

• Gifts between private individuals. The separate relief for occasional gifts sent by one private individual to another is unchanged by this regulation. Company gifts don’t qualify for it: German customs says deliveries from or to companies cannot be recognised as gift shipments, even if they’re free of charge.^{⁠[1]Source 1⁠[5]Source 5}

• Assuming low value means no duty. The €150 relief is gone. A €20 gift entering the EU no longer escapes duty for being low value: it pays the flat €3 per item category or its normal tariff rate.^{⁠[1]Source 1}
• Reading €3 as a charge per parcel. It’s charged per item category inside the parcel. A varied pack pays more than a parcel of one product.^{⁠[2]Source 2}
• Marking a company gift as a gift. Gift relief is for private individuals. A label that says “gift” doesn’t change how customs treats a parcel from a company.^{⁠[5]Source 5}
• Leaving the charges to the recipient. When the sender doesn’t take on import clearance (DAP), the person receiving the parcel is the one asked to deal with it.^{⁠[8]Source 8}

We send international orders DDP: we handle customs and duties, so recipients have nothing to pay on arrival. Customs, duties and taxes are worked out up front, in your quote. And wherever we can, swag for EU recipients is made, held and sent inside the EU, so those sends don’t cross a customs border at all.

Customs concierge

From our work

Each kind of product in a pack like this is its own item category, which is how the €3 is counted on an online sale worth €150 or less.