First €3, now €2 more: the new EU fee for non-EU goods

For many small purchases, that could mean another €5 in EU charges before VAT and any separate fee charged by the delivery company, because apparently introducing one new customs charge at a time would have been far too straightforward.

What is the new €2 handling fee?

The new Union handling fee is part of the EU’s much wider reform of its customs system.

The European Union says that customs authorities are facing an enormous increase in the number of small packages entering the EU, particularly through online shopping. Almost 5.9 billion low-value items entered the EU in 2025, according to the European Commission.

The fee is intended to help cover the cost of processing these imports. Customs authorities have to handle electronic data, risk analysis, documentary checks and physical inspections, and the EU argues that the sheer volume of e-commerce parcels has made this increasingly expensive.

The European Commission has now set the fee at €2 per item.

It is important to understand that this is a Union-wide measure. It is not a Spanish tax or a charge dreamed up by your local Correos office. It comes from EU customs legislation and applies across the EU. So yes, Spain is included.

How does this differ from the €3 charge?

This is where things get slightly more irritating.

The €3 charge and the €2 handling fee are two different things.

The €3 is a temporary customs duty. It came into effect on 1 July 2026 and applies to goods in consignments with an intrinsic value of €150 or less entering the EU from outside the EU. It is calculated according to distinct product categories rather than simply being €3 for the whole parcel.

For example, if a parcel contains five identical cotton T-shirts, those can count as one distinct item for the purposes of the €3 duty, meaning €3.

But if the parcel contains a T-shirt, a watch and a pair of shoes, those are different product categories, and the €3 duty can apply to each one.

Our earlier Spain Buddy article, The EU €3 fee explained, goes into the original charge in more detail.

The new €2 handling fee is separate and additional.

Crucially, it is not limited to goods worth €150 or less. The handling fee applies to goods sold by distance selling, such as an online purchase from a non-EU seller, and can therefore apply regardless of the value of the goods. So the €150 threshold still matters for the temporary €3 duty. It does not provide a general exemption from the new €2 handling fee.

That distinction is likely to cause a fair amount of confusion.

What could the new EU fee for non-EU goods mean when you shop online?

Let’s take a very simple example.

Suppose you order a €20 item from a seller outside the EU.

• From 1 July 2026, the €3 customs duty applied because the consignment is worth €150 or less.
• From November, the additional €2 handling fee is added to the customs arrangements.

That means the import-related charges could amount to €5 before VAT.

There is another important wrinkle.

• The €3 customs duty is included in the amount used to calculate import VAT in relevant circumstances.
• The new €2 handling fee is different. The European Commission’s VAT guidance says it is payment for a public-authority service and is outside the scope of VAT. In other words, VAT is not charged on the €2 handling fee itself.

The actual amount you see at checkout will depend on how the seller or platform handles the charges.

Will I actually have to pay the €5 (€3 + €2) myself?

Legally, not necessarily and this is an important distinction.

The EU’s new rules put responsibility for customs formalities and payments on the relevant business, platform, seller or customs representative rather than making the consumer the customs debtor.

That does not, of course, mean the consumer magically gets a free pass. Businesses have costs. Businesses generally pass those costs on to customers. The EU itself recognises that the charges may ultimately be reflected in the price paid by consumers.

Some sellers may incorporate the cost into their prices. Others may show import charges separately at checkout. If charges have not been collected in advance, a postal operator or courier may become involved when the parcel arrives.

There can also be separate customs-clearance or administration charges imposed by the carrier. Those are not the same thing as the EU’s €2 handling fee.

So if a courier asks you for €7, €10 or some other amount, do not automatically assume that the whole lot is the new EU fee. Several different charges may be involved.

Does this apply to goods from the UK?

Yes, if the goods are actually being sent from Great Britain. This is particularly relevant to people in Spain who still buy from British online shops.

The fact that a website is British, uses pounds or has a .co.uk address is not what matters. What matters is where the goods are when they enter the EU customs territory. Great Britain is outside the EU customs union, so goods shipped from England, Scotland or Wales into Spain are treated as imports from outside the EU. The same principle applies to goods coming from China, the United States, Switzerland or any other non-EU country.

On the other hand, if you order from a website based outside the EU but the particular product is already stored in an EU warehouse and dispatched from within the EU, the situation is different. The goods have already entered the EU customs system.

This is why it is worth checking where an online retailer actually ships your order from rather than simply looking at the website address.

What about orders over €150?

This is one of the most significant differences between the two charges.

• The temporary €3 duty is specifically the interim arrangement for consignments worth €150 or less.
• The €2 handling fee is not restricted in the same way.

The new Union Customs Code establishes a handling fee for goods sold through distance sales and imported into the EU, and the Commission’s delegated rules set that fee at €2 per item.

So an online purchase over €150 can still attract the €2 handling fee, while the €3 flat-rate duty is replaced by the normal customs tariff that applies to the goods.

That means the phrase “the €3 charge on parcels under €150” should not be allowed to morph into “the new €2 charge only applies to parcels under €150”. It doesn’t.

What happens if I buy several different things?

This is where cheap online shopping could become particularly entertaining, in the least entertaining sense of the word. 

• The €3 duty is calculated according to distinct product categories.
• The new €2 handling fee is also set as a fixed amount per item under the new customs framework.

The precise customs classification of the goods therefore matters. A parcel containing several identical products can be treated differently from one containing several unrelated products.

So ordering five identical T-shirts is not necessarily equivalent to ordering one T-shirt, one phone case, one notebook, one necklace and one pair of socks in the same parcel. Putting everything in one box does not turn different types of goods into one item. That means the idea of a €5 “parcel charge” is potentially misleading.

It is better to think in terms of charges associated with the different items or product categories in the consignment.

Why is the EU doing this?

The EU has several stated reasons for the customs reforms.

One is competition. The €150 customs duty exemption was created when dealing with enormous numbers of individual online parcels was not the issue it is today. The EU argues that the explosion in direct-to-consumer imports has given some non-EU sellers an advantage over businesses importing goods in bulk and selling them within the EU.

Another reason is product safety. The European Commission says that large numbers of products entering the EU through e-commerce do not comply with EU requirements.

The scale is genuinely enormous. The Commission estimates that low-value consignments accounted for almost 98% of imported items in 2025, while representing only about 2% of the total value of EU imports. The average value of a low-value item was less than €9. That is a lot of customs declarations for relatively small-value goods.

The EU also says that stronger customs controls will help tackle unsafe products, counterfeit goods and other non-compliant imports, all of which is reasonably understandable.

The slightly less-than-thrilling part for consumers is that paying for all those additional checks has now become part of the shopping experience.

What happens to the €3 charge after 2028?

The €3 charge is explicitly temporary. It is intended to operate until the EU’s new Customs Data Hub for e-commerce is operational, currently scheduled for July 2028. At that point, the temporary €3 flat-rate arrangement is due to be replaced by the normal customs tariff system.

The €2 handling fee is a different matter. It is part of the new permanent customs framework rather than simply being a temporary replacement for the €3 duty. The amount can also be reviewed as the EU assesses the actual costs of customs supervision.

So the end of the €3 charge in its current form does not necessarily mean that online shopping from outside the EU suddenly becomes €3 cheaper in July 2028. Unfortunately, customs is not known for offering happy endings.

What does the new EU fee for non-EU goods mean for people in Spain?

For anyone living in Spain, the basic rule is simple.

If you buy online from a seller outside the EU and the goods are shipped into Spain from outside the EU, you need to consider the import costs.

From November 2026, these can include:

• The applicable customs duty. For consignments worth €150 or less, this is currently the temporary €3 per distinct item or category.
• The new €2 Union handling fee per item.
• VAT, where applicable.
• Any separate administration, customs-clearance or disbursement fee charged by the postal operator or courier.

The precise amount will depend on the goods, their value, how VAT is collected, how the customs declaration is made and how the seller or carrier handles the charges. The safest approach is therefore to look at the final delivered price rather than assuming that the price displayed on a non-EU website is the price you will actually pay.

If a bargain looks suspiciously cheap, it may now be worth asking yourself whether it remains a bargain after customs has finished having its little chat with it.

So, to summarise:

• The new €2 Union handling fee is separate from the €3 customs duty introduced in July.
• For qualifying low-value imports, that means the two charges can sit alongside each other.
• A €20 item coming from outside the EU could therefore attract €3 in temporary customs duty plus €2 in handling charges, before VAT and any carrier charges are taken into account.
• And the €2 handling fee is broader than the €3 duty because it is not limited to consignments worth €150 or less.
• The EU’s argument is that the old system was no longer sustainable, that customs authorities need to cope with billions of tiny parcels and that businesses selling within the EU should not be placed at a disadvantage.

Those are the official reasons.

For the person sitting at home in Spain ordering a €12 widget that seemed like a bargain five minutes ago, the practical message is rather simpler:

Buying cheap stuff from outside the EU is getting more expensive. Again. This time, the new EU fee for non-EU goods is not replacing the recently installed €3 one. It is joining it.