{"id":37937,"date":"2026-01-28T14:46:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T14:46:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ecommercefulfilment.com\/?p=37937"},"modified":"2026-01-28T14:57:20","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T14:57:20","slug":"duty-free-shipments-into-the-eu-will-end-1-july-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ecommercefulfilment.com\/resources\/news\/duty-free-shipments-into-the-eu-will-end-1-july-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Duty-Free Shipments Into the EU Will End 1 July 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>From 1 July 2026, EU eCommerce imports under \u20ac150 will face a new duty at the border of at least \u20ac3.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you\u2019re a D2C brand located outside the EU and often ship there, you\u2019re likely to be affected by new costs at the border and a diminished customer experience if you continue business as usual.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here\u2019s what you need to know.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How much is the new EU customs duty?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Currently, low-value shipments (under \u20ac150) are exempt from customs duties. <strong>From 1 July 2026, however, parcels entering the EU will be subject to a \u20ac3 flat customs duty.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Importantly, <strong>this \u20ac3 duty is applied per tariff classification<\/strong>, based on each item\u2019s EU customs tariff classification (CN code). As a result, orders containing multiple items may incur higher total charges, although only one \u20ac3 charge applies per unique tariff classification within an order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For example:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A pair of earbuds and a speaker system would incur a <strong>\u20ac3 charge<\/strong>, as both items share the <strong>same<\/strong> EU tariff classification.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A pair of earbuds and spare buds would incur a <strong>\u20ac6 charge,<\/strong> as the order contains <strong>two<\/strong> SKUs with different EU tariff classifications.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>An order containing earbuds, spare buds, and a charging cable would incur a <strong>\u20ac9 charge<\/strong>, as the order includes <strong>three<\/strong> SKUs with different EU tariff classifications.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s worth noting that this \u20ac3 duty is a temporary measure, expected to remain in place until a permanent solution is introduced in 2028.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Current indications suggest that any long-term approach is likely to calculate duty based on the sale price of an order, rather than a flat fee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why is the EU customs duty being introduced?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The new customs duty comes in the wake of the U.S\u2019s removal of the $800 De Minimis Value and reflects a growing trend of more expensive cross-border shipping.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There has been growing pressure from the EU to close duty-free loopholes and create a fairer playing field for EU-based sellers, particularly after the growth of low-value eCommerce shipments in recent years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s estimated that hundreds of millions of low-value parcels enter the EU every year, which simply wasn\u2019t the case when the rule was originally designed.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Who pays the EU customs duty?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As with all international shipments, responsibility for paying customs duties depends on the Incoterm applied to the shipment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>For DDP (Delivered Duty Paid) shipments, the shipper (you) covers the duty.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>For non-DDP shipments, the duty is payable by the customer. In these cases, orders are often held at the border until payment is made.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to bypass the customs duty<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We appreciate that this change may raise concerns for brands currently shipping into the EU from non-EU fulfilment centres, particularly following the removal of the <a href=\"\/resources\/news\/de-minimis-is-ending-heres-what-you-need-to-know\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"36608\">$800 US De Minimis threshold last year<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At that time, we advised that the most effective way to mitigate the impact was to move stock in-region and fulfil locally, reducing exposure to cross-border duties and tariffs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The same principle applies here. If you\u2019d like to bypass the new EU customs duty entirely, we recommend considering <a href=\"\/global-fulfilment\/europe\/\">localised EU fulfilment<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">J&amp;J Global Fulfilment currently operate two fulfilment centres in Europe, located in the Netherlands and Poland, and can support you in assessing whether an EU-based fulfilment setup is right for your business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you\u2019d like to discuss your options or get further advice, please don\u2019t hesitate to <a href=\"#requestQuote\">get in touch.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>This article is for informational purposes only. Please seek further guidance and advice for individual circumstances.&nbsp;<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From 1 July 2026, EU eCommerce imports under \u20ac150 will face a new duty at the border of at least \u20ac3.&nbsp; If you\u2019re a D2C brand located outside the EU and often ship there, you\u2019re likely to be affected by&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":36282,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[421],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"modified_by":"Kris Longden","featured_image_src":"https:\/\/www.ecommercefulfilment.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/shutterstock_2536140677-600x400.jpg","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/www.ecommercefulfilment.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/shutterstock_2536140677-600x600.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"J&amp;J Global Fulfilment","author_link":"https:\/\/www.ecommercefulfilment.com\/author\/james-and-james\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecommercefulfilment.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecommercefulfilment.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecommercefulfilment.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecommercefulfilment.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecommercefulfilment.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37937"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecommercefulfilment.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37937\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecommercefulfilment.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecommercefulfilment.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecommercefulfilment.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecommercefulfilment.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}