Overview
- EU finance ministers ended the tax-free treatment for sub‑€150 imports by agreeing a €3 charge applied to each different item type in a package.
- The measure targets the surge of low-cost shipments—4.6 billion parcels in 2024, about 91% from China—often sold via platforms such as Shein, Temu and AliExpress.
- Officials framed the move as protecting EU businesses and consumers from unfair competition, safety risks, fraud and mounting waste from noncompliant goods.
- The levy is explicitly temporary and bridges the period until Customs Union reforms and new data-sharing infrastructure enable a permanent value- and product-based regime expected by 2028.
- France led the push for the bloc-wide step, which sits alongside separate proposals for an EU handling fee and national actions such as Romania’s €5 charge on small parcels.