Which orders are covered
The fee covers consumer shipments from non-EU countries, including China, the United States and Switzerland. It is intended to reduce the volume of cheap parcels and cover additional costs. There is no scheduled end date.
The charge is assessed by product category, rather than simply once per parcel. A category roughly corresponds to a group of goods such as screws, shoes or pens.
Germany's customs authority, the Generalzolldirektion, says the fee applies regardless of a shipment's value, including to online purchases worth more than €150. It is payable in addition to the applicable import charges.
The import date determines whether the fee is due, not the date a customer placed the order. Purchases made before November 1 can therefore still fall under the new rules if they enter the EU after the fee takes effect, German customs says.
Returning the goods does not cancel the charge. According to European Commission guidance cited by Cologne law firm LHR Rechtsanwälte, the fee is non-refundable and remains the responsibility of the party liable to pay it.
Possible price increases for shoppers
Large sellers of inexpensive goods, including Shein, Temu and AliExpress, are expected to be particularly affected. Consumers are not directly responsible for paying the fee, but Stephan Tromp of German retail association HDE expects retailers to pass on part of it, including through higher product prices.
Alien Mulyk, managing director of the German e-commerce and mail-order association Bevh, expects price increases mainly for inexpensive products with especially narrow profit margins.
The EU's 27 member states collect the fee. Euronews reports that they retain 25% of the revenue, while 75% goes to the EU budget.
How the fee differs from customs duties
The handling fee is separate from the €3 flat-rate customs duty introduced on July 1, 2026, for low-value consignments worth up to €150. Shipments above that threshold incur regular customs duties, as well as the new handling fee.
Unlike the handling fee, the €3 duty is temporary and is limited until July 1, 2028. After that date, regular duties determined by a product's value, origin and classification are to apply once the new EU Customs Data Hub is operational, according to LHR Rechtsanwälte.
The measures follow a sharp increase in low-value imports. DW reports that annual parcel arrivals under the former exemption for goods worth less than €150 grew from 1.4 billion in 2022 to 5.8 billion in 2025. China accounted for 91% of those shipments in 2024, according to Euronews.
The European Commission says small-parcel arrivals fell 60% between July and September 2026, after the €3 duty began. Even so, about 5 million parcels still enter the EU market each day.
New declarations and changes to shipping
November 1 also marks the introduction of additional product reference details for low-value distance sales to help authorities trace goods. The requirements include declaring TARIC additional code Y126 for distance sales, according to DW and LHR Rechtsanwälte.
Shein prepared for the customs changes by expanding its warehouse space in Wroclaw, Poland, and increasing bulk shipments into the EU, DW reports. Other online retailers were expected to adopt a similar approach.
