EU introduces new processing fee

The amount of the fee still has to be determined by the EU Commission. The tax is intended to cover the increasing costs caused by the growing number of small shipments from online trading – such as inspection and inspection during import.

New customs duties are coming

The processing fee is in addition to planned new customs fees. Parcels with a value of up to 150 euros can currently be imported into the international community duty-free. In order to counter unwanted cheap imports, from July onwards a tax of three euros will apply to every package with a goods value of up to 150 euros. This measure will apply temporarily until a new digital platform for processing and control is launched and then all goods imported into the EU will be subject to customs duties from the first euro. This is currently planned for 2028.

The abolition of the exemption limit is intended to ensure that all retailers – regardless of their location – have the same competitive conditions. It is still unclear whether cheap products will become more expensive as a result of the new taxes. Theoretically, producers or importers could also cover the additional costs.

The new rules are likely to affect online retailers such as Shein, Temu, AliExpress and Amazon. Online retail has led to an exponential increase in deliveries of small parcels of low-value goods to the EU in recent years. According to the EU Commission, around twelve million packages arrived in the EU every day in 2024, significantly more than in the previous two years.

Shopping portals popular with consumers

According to the German Trade Association (HDE), around 400,000 packages are sent from Shein and Temu to German customers every day. The sales of the two portals in Germany were between 2.7 and 3.3 billion euros in 2024. According to HDE, more than 14 million people in this country shopped at Temu and Shein last year.

Temu is an online marketplace where numerous companies sell various goods. The Chinese company has been active in Germany since spring 2023 and continues to cause a stir with its low prices and high discounts. Products are often delivered directly from the manufacturer to the customer. The fashion group Shein, founded in China and now based in Singapore, is both a manufacturer and retailer as well as a marketplace. Both providers are controversial. Politicians, sales representatives and consumer advocates complain, among other things, about product quality, a lack of controls and unfair competition conditions.

In addition to the new processing fee, other measures as part of the reform of the EU customs framework are intended to facilitate global trade, collect tariffs more efficiently and tighten controls on non-compliant, dangerous or unsafe goods, as the EU countries announced.