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From 1 November 2026, the EU will apply the €2 Union handling fee. Guidance on the Union handling fee are included on the previous Guidance on the €3 customs duty. The Guidance will be updated periodically as needed.
The EU Customs Reform has entered into force, marking the start of a better, smarter and simpler customs system across the EU. Following formal adoption by the Council of the European Union and European Parliament, the reform was published in the Official Journal last Saturday and will be gradually implemented as from today.
The Implementation Dialogue on the EU Customs Reform, held on 8 June 2026 under the chairmanship of Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič, brought together representatives from industry, trade associations, and the Commission to discuss the practical aspects of implementing the recently agreed Customs Reform.
From 1 July 2026, the EU will apply a temporary €3 customs duty per item on low-value consignments (up to €150) imported from outside the EU, abolishing the duty exemption applicable until 30 June 2026.
Key documents
New Union Customs Code (UCC)
- Basic Regulation: Regulation - EU - 2026/2108 - EN - EUR-Lex
- Delegated Act: Delegated regulation (2026)6694
- Staff Working Document (2026)283
Temporary 3 EUR customs duty and Union handling fee
- Council Regulation: Regulation - EU - 2026/382 - EN - EUR-Lex
- Delegated Act: Delegated regulation - EU - 2026/1022 - EN - EUR-Lex
- Implementing Act: Commission Implementing Act
- Council Agreement (November 2025): E-commerce: 150 EUR customs duty exemption threshold to be removed as of 2026 - Taxation and Customs Union
- Guidance for Member States and Trade: Guidance on the 3 EUR customs duty and Union handling fee
EU Customs Reform
On 16 September 2026, the European Parliament and the Council adopted the most comprehensive reform of the EU Customs Union since its establishment in 1968. The Commission had proposed the Customs Reform in 2023, aiming to modernise the EU’s customs system, making it more digital, data-driven and responsive to the growing challenges of international trade, including the rapid growth of e-commerce, rising import volumes and evolving geopolitical risks. With these vital upgrades in place, European customs will be equipped to adapt to today’s fast-changing landscape.
The reform is built on three pillars: smarter risk management and customs controls, a modern framework for e-commerce, and a stronger partnership with business.
- EU Customs Authority
to strengthen coordination and risk management across Member States, including management of an EU Customs Data Hub.
- Trust and Check Traders
simplification and streamlined customs obligations
- New rules for e-commerce
managing the surge of small parcels.
EU Customs Authority
The Customs Reform will help better coordinate the currently fragmented national systems within a unified, data-driven architecture, transforming EU customs into an even more dynamic, intelligence-led force, capable of tackling modern threats and meeting economic imperatives.
To so do, the reform establishes a new decentralised EU agency, the EU Customs Authority (EUCA), in Lille. This marks a significant evolution in EU customs governance through a central coordinating capacity that supports national customs administrations across all 27 Member States.
EUCA will support customs authorities address today’s cross-border challenges more effectively by facilitating information-sharing, coordinating joint operations, and providing risk management at EU level. It will contribute to the harmonised implementation of EU customs legislation, as well as the detection and prevention of customs fraud across the Union. EUCAis expected to have around 285 staff members.
The European Commission has launched a task force to establish the EUCA to ensure its administrative and operational readiness. The task force is open to Member States participation through Seconded National Experts.
EUCA will manage the EU Customs Data Hub, the single digital interface for all customs operations in the EU.
The EU Customs Data Hub will compile the import and export data provided by businesses and provide authorities with a 360-degree overview of supply chains and the movement of goods.
The data hub will ensure the smooth flow of goods in and out of the EU; provide authorities with shared, real-time data, enabling faster, more consistent and more effective risk management and reduce administrative burdens for businesses and improve the accuracy of customs processes. Traders can submit customs and product information through one single online platform.
Expected to gradually replace Member States’ IT systems, it is estimated to save Member States over €2 billion yearly in operational costs. The use of the data hub to record imports to and exports from the EU will become mandatory for e-commerce on 1 July 2028, and for all traders from 1 March 2034.
Trust & Check: Simplifications for trusted traders
The reform will redefine the way information is provided, used and shared, drastically reducing compliance costs for all businesses. It will allow businesses to submit data only once, eliminating the need for traders to navigate through multiple national systems.
It will moreover allow new facilitations for reliable “Trust & Check” traders, including the possibility to “self-release” goods on behalf of customs. To facilitate legitimate trade, trusted traders, will benefit from simplified procedures and fewer controls, allowing customs authorities to focus their resources on high-risk consignments.
A turning point for e-commerce
The reform responds to the current pressures under which EU customs operate, including the massive increase in international trade volumes, especially in low-value e-commerce. In 2025, 5.9 billion low-value e-commerce items were imported into the EU, four times the volume recorded in 2022. This mass of small parcels has put customs authorities under strain. Moreover, many products fail to comply with EU rules and standards and pose serious safety and security concerns for customers.
The reform responds with several measures:
- Removal of the €150 duty threshold and temporary €3 customs duty: the reform removes the so-called ‘de minimis' rules, under which parcels arriving in the EU with a value up to €150 were exempted from customs duties. This rule became a loophole low-value imports, with importers often splitting imports or undervaluing their products to avoid duties. From 1 July 2026, the EU abolished the exemption and imposed a temporary €3 customs duty on items bought online, to level the playing field between e-commerce sales (direct imports of individual parcels up to €150 that are not paying duties) and traditional retail (imports in bulk that had always been subject to duties), restoring fairness while maintaining choice for consumers. Once the Data Hub is fully operational, normal customs duties will apply.
- An Union handling fee on small parcels will be introduced by 1 November 2026 on goods imported into the EU to compensate for the increasing costs for customs authorities. The Commission will determine its amount in a delegated act. The amount of the fee is based on the costs for customs supervision. The costs arise from the digital and labour resources mobilised to release those goods for free circulation, including checking the data provided, carrying out risk analysis, and performing regular documentary and physical controls when needed.
- Under the new rules, responsibility for duty payment and compliance with the rules and standards is no longer with the consumer but with the platforms, sellers or carriers involved in the transactions:
- Non-EU online platforms and sellers are responsible for customs formalities and duty payments for the goods they sell into the EU.
- Non-compliance carries penalties, including fines, the loss of certain customs privileges, and even access restrictions.
Removal of the €150 customs duty exemption threshold.
A handling fee to cover rising costs for customs authorities.
Online platforms become "importers for distance sales".
Next steps
- 2027
EUCA will be established in close cooperation with the Member States, with some activities starting.
- 2028
E-commerce operators gain access to the EU Customs Data Hub.
- 2031
Businesses can start using the EU Customs Data Hub on a voluntary basis.
- 2034
The use of the EU Customs Data Hub becomes mandatory for all businesses importing goods into the EU.
Background
A milestone for EU integration
The EU Customs Union was founded in 1968 representing a milestone for EU integration. It provided the foundations for the Single Market and ensured the free circulation of goods within the EU. Since then, it has quietly underpinned prosperity, security, and the free movement of goods across the EU.
In today’s landscape, customs authorities control billions of consignments annually, with e-commerce fuelling an unprecedented surge in low-value imports.
Preparatory work
Extensive and in-depth preparatory work over the last years has focused on the best way for EU Customs to tackle existing and expected future challenges. Key documents include:
- The Future of Customs in the EU 2040 report, carried out by the Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) which reflected on the Customs Union’s future, relevance and long-term effectiveness.
- The 2021 European Court of Auditors report which called for more uniform application of customs controls, and a fully-fledged analysis and coordination capacity at EU level.
Finally, in 2022, the High-Level Wise Persons Group on the Future of Customs called for ‘urgent structural change’ and made a series of recommendations on how to make the Customs Union more agile, more geo-political and more coherent.
The new EU Customs Reform package is based on this preparatory work and is also supported by an extensive Commission Impact Assessment, as well as a public consultation which gathered views from all stakeholders.
The adoption of the Customs Reform
In May 2023, the Commission put forward a proposal for a comprehensive customs reform, aiming to tackle these challenges by developing a more cohesive, data-driven, and risk-based customs system.
In March 2026, the Commission welcomed the agreement between the European Parliament and the Council, delivering a landmark reform of the EU Customs Union. With these vital upgrades in place, European customs will be equipped to adapt to the fast-changing landscape of international trade.
Questions and answers
What is the EU Customs Union?
The EU Customs Union is a major success story of European integration and economic development. Established in 1968, the Customs Union facilitates trade, protects citizens, fosters innovation and helps the EU maintain its global economic leadership and security.
All EU Member States are part of the EU Customs Union.
This means that EU Member States apply the same customs tariffs to goods entering their territory from the rest of the world and apply no tariffs internally among themselves. Once goods have passed customs, they can circulate freely within the EU, without additional tariffs or border checks. The Customs Union thereby facilitates trade, supports businesses, and protects citizens and the environment.
Within the Customs Union, Member States use the same Union rules for handling the import, export and transit of goods and apply a common set of customs rules. These rules - known as the Union Customs Code (‘UCC') - entered into force in 2016.
In parallel, the EU is in customs unions with Andorra, San Marino and Türkiye through separate bilateral agreements; these territories however do not belong to the EU Customs Union.
Why is a reform of the Customs Union needed?
In its current form and following recent trends, the EU Customs Union is struggling to effectively deliver on all of its tasks. Customs have recently been faced with several challenges:
- an exponential rise in e-commerce, with an estimated 5.9 billion low-value items entering the EU in 2025, over 90% originating from China;
- an increase in the number of EU standards that customs authorities must enforce on goods. Particular challenges are so-called ‘prohibitions and restrictions', the rules that support EU priorities and values such as the fight against illicit goods, product compliance, safety rules, environmental protection, firearm and export control;
- the need to continuously react to geopolitical changes, enforce EU sanctions and support measures in times of global crisis, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
The processes, systems and governance of EU customs are thus increasingly complex for authorities and traders to navigate efficiently. EU importers need to deal with 27 national customs administrations, and more than 111 separate IT interfaces and systems, all of which are expensive for authorities to run and are not necessarily interconnected. There is currently no central EU customs database or EU supply chain supervision.
This leaves the EU vulnerable to all sorts of risks: from the loss of public revenues to drug trafficking, criminal activities and financial fraud, or dangerous products being placed on the market. Our competitiveness is also at risk of being undermined by unfair competition from non-EU traders.
What is the aim of the EU Customs Reform?
On 17 May 2023, the Commission proposed a fundamental reform of the EU customs framework. This reform aims to modernise the architecture and procedures governing EU customs, strengthening their capability to supervise and control the flow of goods entering and leaving the Customs Union. The reform will digitalise, simplify and reduce the costs of customs processes, while making better use of new data systems to enhance the efficiency of customs controls. It will reinforce the Customs Union through a common approach at the external border, cut costs for businesses through simpler procedures and less red tape, make e-commerce platforms more accountable under a regime designed for online trade, and better protect the Single Market through common EU risk management and stronger enforcement of prohibitions and restrictions by customs.
A major innovation is the European Customs Authority, which will develop and run the new EU Customs Data Hub, transforming data provision, data sharing and risk management across Member States and ensuring smarter and more efficient customs operations through greater coordination and cooperation among Member States customs administrations.
The reform also establishes a new partnership with businesses. A ‘trust and check' approach allows established supply chains to import and export seamlessly as trusted partners. The systemic supervision allows customs to be more strategic about checks and controls.
In the future, e-commerce operators will bear more responsibility. As ‘importers for distance sales', online platforms and sellers will inform customs through the EU Customs Data Hub about their sales to Union consumers immediately after they happen. This will allow customs to react before the goods arrive at the border, supported by the EU Customs Authority risk analysis at Union level. These platforms and sellers will become liable for financial obligations (customs duties and other fees) and for ensuring compliance of their products with EU legislation (for example identifying a responsible economic operator in the EU). This is a major improvement from the current customs system, which assigns this responsibility to individual consumers.
How will the reform benefit customs?
Customs will have all the real-time information they need on which goods are coming in and when, while developing a bird's-eye view of ongoing trade and supply chains. Customs and partner authorities can intervene on any given consignment according to their risk analysis and at any time – before loading, at entry, during transport within the EU or at final destination. They will be able to more precisely target, and control possible risks related to safety and security, fraud, or circumvention of legislation on prohibited and restricted goods, regardless of where goods enter the EU. They will also be able to give do-not-transport instructions so that non-compliant goods do not enter the EU in the first place.
How will the reform benefit businesses?
Overall, the proposed reform of EU Customs will significantly reduce the time and costs for traders to perform their customs operations and get customs clearance. At the heart of the reform is a shift from a declaration-based to a data-led system. For transparent and compliant supply chains, paperwork and formalities are reduced to a minimum, and duties can be paid periodically rather than on import.
The Data Hub will open for e-commerce consignments in 2028. The Data Hub will then open for all other businesses in 2031, leading to immediate benefits, simplifications, and savings for companies. In 2034, the Data Hub will expand to all traders and become the single mandatory EU Customs entry point.
A specific group of ‘Trust & Check' traders will be created. These traders will offer maximum transparency of their supply chains and will be able to clear all of their imports with the customs authorities of the Member State in which they are based, no matter where the goods enter the EU. Under certain conditions, they will even be able to import goods without the need for any active customs intervention and free of administrative burden. A review two years after the EU Customs Data hub is operational will assess whether this possibility can be extended to all traders.
Through the proposed simplifications, it is estimated that businesses will cut compliance costs by €2.7 billion a year. Legitimate business will also be able to rest easy in the knowledge that customs will have more time and resources to deal with fraudulent competitors who can undercut them on price. Nothing will change regarding the level of detail that importers have to provide to customs. The information will simply be delivered and analysed in a smarter, more efficient way.
A reinforced customs union will also support the level playing field and the correct implementation of EU trade measures at the border, which will benefit EU business' competitiveness and economic security.
How will the new system benefit Member States?
All Member States will have access to the same real-time data, and based on a new mix of machine learning, artificial intelligence and human intervention, will be able to pool information and focus their efforts on more effective checks and identifying risks before the goods even leave for the EU. Customs will also be better equipped to protect the security and safety of all EU citizens and uphold common EU strategic priorities and values like global human rights and the fight against climate change.
Over time, the EU Customs Data Hub, developed and managed centrally by the EU Customs Authority, will replace the existing IT infrastructure in EU Member States. The estimated saving for them is more than €2 billion a year in IT development and maintenance costs.
Along with these savings at national level, authorities will gain access to a 360-degree overview of individual supply chains. With this information and the support of the EU Customs Authority, they will be able to carry out more targeted risk assessment and focus customs checks where they are most needed.
What are the e-commerce measures proposed in the EU Customs Reform?
The Commission and Member States share a sense of urgency stemming from the boom in e-commerce goods being imported into the EU over the past few years. To respond to these challenges with the necessary urgency mindset, the EU will start to apply two e-commerce measures already in 2026.
First, it removes the so-called ‘de minimis' rules, under which parcels arriving in the EU with a value below €150 were exempted from customs duties. This rule became a gateway for huge volumes of low-value imports, with importers often splitting imports or undervaluing their products to avoid duties. Therefore, from July 1st 2026, the EU will introduce a temporary €3 customs duty for items bought online, to level the playing field between e-commerce sales (direct imports of individual parcels up to EUR 150 that are not paying duties) and traditional retail (imports in bulk that had always been subject to duties).
The agreement today also introduces a handling fee on goods imported into the EU to compensate for the increasing costs for customs authorities. The Commission will determine its amount in a delegated act. The amount of the fee is based on the minimum costs customs authorities face when processing goods. The costs arise from the IT and labour resources mobilised to release those goods for free circulation, including checking the data provided, carrying out risk analysis, and performing regular documentary and physical controls when needed. From 2028, where the importer operates a customs warehouse, the fee will be lower due to easier customs checks.
The measures will protect EU consumers from abuses and non-compliant products, making shopping safer for them. In response to the continuing surge in e-commerce imports, it is imperative that EU customs controls can ensure that only compliant and safe products enter the EU market and reach our citizens.
Both the customs duty and the handling fee will constitute a traditional own resource, which means that a percentage of the revenue will be for the Union budget.
