EU adopts €2 ecommerce handling fee; collection date still pending
The adopted fee is €2 per customs item, including distance sales above €150. New VAT guidance supports cost planning, but the legal collection date remains unconfirmed.
- Who this affects
- UK businesses making distance sales of goods to EU consumers.
- Seller action
- No immediate general seller change
Model €2 per customs item plus applicable VAT for future distance sales, including orders above €150. Confirm the legal collection date and your provider’s accounting arrangements before activating charges.
- Effective dates / current position
- €2 amount adopted 21 September; collection date pending
- Last reviewed
- 7 Oct 2026 — an editorial source check, separate from automatic timing.
- Official source
- Open the primary source ↗
Updates to this article
Added the Commission’s 5 October VAT guidance for IOSS, other import routes and returns, with a clearly labelled calculation example. Rechecked the fee-setting act and register: collection remains unconfirmed despite the expected 1 November timetable. Original publication date, URL and imagery preserved.
Verified the Commission’s adopted €2-per-customs-item fee, including distance sales above €150. Distinguished adoption from collection and retained the unconfirmed start date. Replaced superseded amount guidance; original publication date, URL and imagery preserved.
Verified final Regulation 2026/2108 and replaced the pending-adoption account. Distinguished 20 September legal entry from fee collection, added the 29 September fee-setting deadline, and retained uncertainty over the amount and collection date. Original publication date, URL and image preserved.
Added Parliament’s 14 September committee recommendation and distinguished it from final parliamentary approval. Rechecked that the fee amount remains unconfirmed; original publication date and seller preparation advice retained.
Rechecked official handling-fee sources: amount still unconfirmed. Added the linked November preparation refresher without changing the original publication date.
Read the November preparation refresher for product-data and handling-fee planning.
Update: 22 September 2026
Article 1 of Commission Delegated Regulation C(2026) 6694 final sets the Union handling fee at €2 per customs item. The explanatory memorandum explicitly includes distance sales above €150. This is a material change from our earlier report, when the amount was unknown.
Businesses can now model this adopted amount in future landed-cost planning. Do not describe it as a fee already being collected, or automatically activate a checkout charge on an assumed date.
When will collection start?
The adopted act enters into force on its publication in the EU Official Journal and applies on the tenth day afterwards. Article 282(7) of the customs code provides a 30-day objection period, unless Parliament and Council both confirm earlier that they will not object. The Commission’s 5 October guidance expects collection from 1 November 2026, while identifying the fee-setting act as still under scrutiny; that is not a substitute for verifying Official Journal publication and the resulting legal collection date.
No fixed collection date is confirmed in this update. Adoption on 21 September is not the start of charging. The customs code’s own entry into force on 20 September did not start collection either.
What is the handling fee?
Once the collection provision applies, EU customs authorities will collect a fixed handling fee for each customs “item” released into free circulation following a distance sale. The fee will help cover customs work including checking shipment data, risk assessment, controls and support for the new EU customs systems.
The adopted amount is €2 per customs item, not a flat €2 per parcel. The handling-fee provision itself does not contain a €150 consignment-value limit; it refers more broadly to goods sold through distance sales. Article 20 makes the fee non-refundable.
What does “per item” mean?
An item does not always mean each physical product in a parcel. One customs item can contain one or more goods sharing the same customs classification, product description and—where required—country of origin.
- Three identical T-shirts with the same description, classification and origin may form one customs item.
- A T-shirt and a leather belt would form separate customs items because their classifications and descriptions differ.
A mixed parcel could therefore attract several handling fees. Several identical products would not automatically attract a separate fee for every unit.
Who would be responsible?
The person responsible for the import customs debt would also be responsible for the handling fee. Under the planned distance-sale model, this would be the importer for distance sales, such as the seller or a business facilitating the sale.
During the transitional period, responsibility would normally sit with the customs declarant—typically the person entitled to use IOSS or an indirect customs representative. The EU consumer would not be the legal debtor, although a seller, marketplace, carrier or representative could recover the cost through prices or delivery charges.
VAT planning: checked 7 October 2026
The Commission’s guidance dated 5 October explains how VAT applies once fee collection begins:
- IOSS: qualifying imports remain exempt from import VAT. If the fee is charged to the customer at checkout, include it in the taxable amount reported through IOSS.
- Special Arrangements or standard import procedure: include the fee in the amount on which import VAT is calculated. This also covers distance sales above €150 under the standard procedure.
- Returns: the fee itself is non-refundable. Under Special Arrangements or the standard procedure, VAT paid on it forms part of the import-VAT refund for returned goods; confirm the refund process with your provider.
Illustration: at an applicable VAT rate of 20%, a €2 fee adds €0.40 VAT. The actual rate depends on the goods and destination.
How does this relate to the temporary €3 customs duty?
The temporary €3 customs duty and the handling fee are separate charges. The €3 duty is an interim customs tariff for qualifying consignments with an intrinsic value of no more than €150 using the relevant IOSS or postal route. Under current legislation it runs from 1 July 2026 until 1 July 2028.
Once the handling fee starts, a qualifying shipment could face both charges. That overlap could continue until 1 July 2028. The handling fee is intended to continue beyond that date alongside the normal customs tariffs that replace the temporary €3 measure.
What changes in July 2028?
From 1 July 2028, importers for distance sales and businesses choosing to use IOSS would begin supplying customs information through the new EU Customs Data Hub. For those e-commerce movements, this would replace the current customs declaration process.
What UK e-commerce sellers should do now
- Model €2 per customs item for future distance sales, including orders above €150. Count declaration items, not just parcels or physical units, and include applicable VAT in your planning.
- Continue providing accurate product descriptions, classifications and countries of origin.
- Confirm who acts as importer and customs declarant within the delivery arrangement.
- Ask how your provider will account for and pass on the fee. Confirm the legal collection date and operational arrangements before activating charges.
The lower customs-warehouse fee envisaged from July 2028 is not set by this act. We will update this article again when the collection date is verified.
Official resources
- Commission guidance, 5 October 2026: section 9.2 on VAT and section 1 on the expected timetable ↗
- VAT Directive: Articles 73, 78 and 86 ↗
- Commission register: adopted act C(2026) 6694 and current legal status ↗
- Commission adopted text: amount, scope explanation and commencement ↗
- Regulation (EU) 2026/2108: Articles 5, 20, 282 and 287 ↗
- European Commission: customs reform timetable ↗