EU shipping in November: what UK retailers should prepare now

Prepare product references, test your shipping setup and plan landed costs. The product-data requirement and separate €2-per-customs-item handling fee both apply from 1 November 2026.

The short version

Prepare your product data now. Product identifiers become mandatory on 1 November 2026 for qualifying online sales imported into the EU. Under current legislation, the requirement is not limited to IOSS or parcels worth €150 or less.

Handling-fee update checked 23 October 2026. The final fee-setting Regulation (EU) 2026/2152 was published on 22 October and confirms €2 per customs item from 1 November 2026, including distance sales above €150. This is separate from the product-data requirement and is not a flat charge for every parcel. Prepare landed costs and confirm your provider’s billing and VAT arrangements. The product-identifier and carrier assessments below retain their individual review dates.

Which product references do I need?

Your selling reference — M-PID

The identifier used by your shop or marketplace for that product.

The manufacturer’s reference — NS-PID

The reference assigned by the manufacturer, producer or product supplier.

A recognised identifier, if one exists — S-PID

For example, an EAN or ISBN. Where none exists, the declarant uses Y081; you do not need to buy a barcode solely for this rule.

These are product references, not parcel tracking numbers or replacement commodity codes. See the full guide for declaration codes and special cases.

Is my shop SKU enough?

Your SKU may be suitable as the merchant reference if it identifies the exact product or variant sold. It is not automatically a substitute for the supplier’s reference or an existing standardised identifier. Ask your provider how to send each field; the declarant reports M-PID under C127, NS-PID under C128 and S-PID under C129, or Y081 when no S-PID exists.

A manageable plan for your business

1. Choose one person to coordinate it. Give them access to the people managing the product catalogue, suppliers and shipping system. Avoid leaving the task between departments.
2. Start with five different products. Include a size or colour variation and something sold through a marketplace. Make a short list of the references you have and the gaps to resolve. Then work through the rest of the catalogue.
3. Ask suppliers about the gaps. Send the exact product and variant, rather than asking for “all your codes”. Record who will respond and when.
4. Arrange an end-to-end test. Follow a sample order from your shop to the shipping system and the business submitting the customs declaration. Ask to see the values actually received, not just confirmation that a field exists.
5. Make it part of adding stock. Check new products as they arrive, so a completed catalogue does not become incomplete again.

This is a suggested work plan, not a separate legal timetable. Aim to leave time for fixes before November. Voluntary PID submission has been available since 1 July.

Check your shipping setup before November

Having the references in your catalogue is only half the job. They also need to reach the business completing your customs declaration. Use these practical checks alongside the work plan above.

• Ask about your provider’s own deadline. Confirm when it will start requiring the fields for your service, allowing for parcels travelling to the EU before 1 November. An earlier shipping-system deadline is not a different EU legal start date. Do not assume every provider follows the same timetable.
• Check every way you create a shipment. Your shipping website, desktop software, marketplace connection or API integration may need different changes. Ask your software provider whether an update or new field mapping is needed, who will make it and when you can test it. A field in a spreadsheet is not enough if it is lost before customs receives the data.
• Confirm the invoice arrangements. Ask whether your provider also needs the identifiers on the commercial invoice, particularly if you upload your own document. If it does, make sure the invoice and electronic shipment data agree. Invoice instructions can depend on the provider and process; this is not a claim that every carrier uses the same invoice rules.

UPS users: prepare for 25 October

Carrier-specific update checked 6 October 2026. UPS says that from 25 October 2026 it requires merchant and manufacturer product identifiers for non-exempt products in its EU-bound B2C shipping process. Missing identifiers may fail its validation and prevent a shipment being processed. This is UPS’s operational deadline, not a new EU-wide legal start date. If you use UPS, confirm the required fields and applicable exceptions for your service and test the data for each product line before that date. Other providers may have different deadlines.

Using UPS through Linnworks

Linnworks integration check, 14 October 2026. Linnworks now lists UPS support for ItemSku, NonStandardMidCode and ProductMidCode as live since 13 October. Those fields carry the merchant, non-standardised manufacturer and standardised manufacturer references respectively. Test that your actual orders pass the values through before UPS’s 25 October validation deadline. An integration being live does not establish that your own catalogue and mappings are complete.

FedEx web and API users: prepare for 26 October

Carrier-specific update checked 14 October 2026. FedEx’s customer guide says PID fields become mandatory in FedEx Ship Manager at fedex.com and FedEx API from 26 October 2026. For shipments requiring those fields, missing PIDs will prevent label creation and completion of the shipment. This is a FedEx shipping-system deadline, separate from the EU’s 1 November legal start.

Check the fields and invoice layout now, especially if you upload your own invoice or use third-party software. FedEx asks for the identifiers in the commercial invoice and supporting shipping documents, and instructs users to enter NO where no S-PID exists. That is FedEx’s input convention, not a replacement for the customs declarant’s Y081 code. Its customer guide describes the low-value B2C scope; confirm treatment of your products and higher-value orders with the provider while the legal-scope issue above remains unresolved.

Click & Drop: check EU e-commerce orders before 26 October

Provider-specific update checked 23 October 2026. For Royal Mail EU-bound orders categorised as E-Commerce Goods, Click & Drop requires a Product SKU and a non-standardised manufacturer identifier from 26 October 2026. This applies to both Online Business Account (OBA) and personal-account users: postage cannot be applied without those values. The notice excludes Northern Ireland-to-EU shipments and destinations outside the EU.

Populate your product records and test imported orders before the cutoff. Your shop SKU is not automatically the manufacturer’s product reference. This is a Click & Drop processing deadline, not a change to the EU legal start date. Check your specific service and account with the provider; do not infer a general customs exemption from an optional software field.

Shippo API users: check Evri and your own FedEx account

Software-provider update checked 23 October 2026. Shippo’s API guidance says Evri will reject EU labels without the required product identifiers from 29 October 2026. If you book Evri through Shippo’s API, test your actual integration and confirm the fields and applicable exceptions with Shippo. This is a Shippo-reported service deadline, not a verified rule for every Evri booking channel.

For customers connecting their own FedEx account to Shippo, a separate legacy-SOAP integration issue will block qualifying EU label purchases from 1 November 2026. Shippo says completing its FedEx account-verification process moves the account to the supported REST integration. Check each connected account with Shippo Support if its status is unclear; do not assume every FedEx account is affected.

Shippo Elements users: arrange another label workflow

Software-provider update checked 21 October 2026. Shippo says its Elements service, used to buy labels inside a partner platform’s dashboard, does not yet support the new product-identifier fields. From 1 November 2026, EU-bound labels will not be available through Elements. This is a Shippo software limitation, not a ban on shipping to the EU; other destinations are unaffected by this restriction.

Shippo identifies its direct web app at apps.goshippo.com as the interim route for EU labels. If you use Elements, check access, carrier availability and the required product data, then test an order through the alternative workflow before November. Shippo expects EU label purchases in Elements to return in early 2027, but has not confirmed a date. Do not rely on that estimate when planning fulfilment.

Personalised or second-hand goods

Do not assume those products are exempt. The Commission’s guidance gives the original product’s identifier as the reference for second-hand goods, and the underlying textile’s identifier for clothing personalised with a name or logo. Check the full product identifier guide and the special-circumstances section of the official guidance for the applicable conditions.

A message you can send to your shipping provider

We are preparing for the EU product identifier requirement from 1 November. Which fields should we use for M-PID, NS-PID and S-PID, and how do we indicate that no standardised identifier exists? What is your operational deadline for our service, do we need a software or integration update, and should the identifiers also appear on our own commercial invoice? Can we test several products and receive confirmation of the data passed to the customs declarant? Please also confirm how you will account for the €2 handling fee per customs item from 1 November, including VAT, goods already in transit and any separate service charges.

What still needs confirmation?

The handling-fee amount and 1 November application date are now confirmed. You still need to establish the declaration grouping, liability and billing arrangements for your route. The possible narrowing of PID coverage described above and Shippo’s return estimate remain separate unresolved points.

Establish who handles customs, count the customs items in sample orders and allow €2 for each covered item from 1 November, plus applicable VAT. This is not simply €2 per parcel and is separate from the €3 duty on qualifying low-value imports. Read the handling-fee article before changing checkout charges.

Your first task

Pick one EU order and ask: “Can the person clearing this parcel identify every product from the references we send?” If not, resolve the missing references and test the data before November.

Official, carrier and software-provider sources checked

• EU Regulation 2026/1022: product identifier definitions and data requirements ↗
• European Commission guidance: product-identifier timing and practical rules ↗
• Dutch Customs: 2 October PID scope clarification — current law and intended change ↗
• Final Regulation 2026/2152: €2 fee and 1 November application date, checked 23 October ↗
• Dutch Customs: updated 22 October handling-fee explanation ↗
• Regulation 2026/2108: fee scope, item definition and commencement ↗
• Commission customs reform timetable ↗
• UPS UK: 25 October product-identifier validation deadline, checked 6 October ↗ — carrier requirements, not the source of EU law.
• FedEx customer guide, page 12: 26 October web/API deadline and invoice instructions ↗ — checked 14 October; provider-specific requirements.
• Linnworks: UPS integration support live from 13 October ↗ — software-provider guidance checked 14 October.
• Click & Drop: 26 October product-data processing deadline ↗ — Royal Mail EU e-commerce account scope checked 23 October; provider guidance, not the source of EU law.
• Shippo: API deadlines, own-account FedEx integration and Elements workaround ↗ — Evri and FedEx integration guidance checked 23 October; Elements assessment dated 21 October retained; not the source of EU law.