EU imposes EUR 3 per-item customs duty on low-value distance-sale imports and shifts declarant liability to platforms
Platforms, sellers, carriers and postal operators importing sub-EUR 150 distance-sale goods into the EU must declare and pay a new EUR 3 per-item customs duty and, from 1 November 2026, provide product identifiers for each item
Change
From 1 July 2026 the European Commission's Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/1022 implements the abolition of the EUR 150 low-value customs-duty relief, applying a temporary EUR 3 per-item customs duty to distance-sale imported consignments not exceeding EUR 150, redefining 'item' so the duty applies per item, placing declarant liability primarily on platforms and sellers (then carriers/agents, residually the consumer), and requiring per-item product identifiers in customs declarations from 1 November 2026.
Why it matters
The Regulation operationalises Council Regulation (EU) 2026/382, which deleted the low-value duty relief so that consignments up to EUR 150 now attract customs duty regardless of declared value. It narrows the H7 declaration to goods subject to the EUR 3 duty, defines 'item' so the duty applies to each item, and replaces 'goods in postal consignment' with 'goods conveyed under the responsibility of a postal operator' across Entry Summary Declarations. Primary liability for the EUR 3 duty rests on the declarant — platforms and sellers, or the carrier/agent — aligning the customs debtor with the person liable for import VAT. New merchant and manufacturer product-identifier data must be supplied for each distance-sale item; those product-identifier requirements apply from 1 November 2026, with voluntary early provision from 1 July 2026. Returned low-value distance-sale goods are excluded from customs-declaration invalidation.
Implications
- — Applies to any platform or seller making distance sales of sub-EUR 150 goods into the EU: as the primary declarant, they must declare and ensure payment of the EUR 3 per-item customs duty on each consignment not exceeding EUR 150 from 1 July 2026 — the relief that previously exempted these goods is abolished, and the duty applies per item, so consignments of multiple items carry multiple EUR 3 charges.
- — Carriers, agents and postal operators declaring these consignments must be ready to act as declarant where the platform or seller does not, since liability falls to them residually before the consumer — and postal operators must supply Entry Summary Declaration particulars under the redefined 'goods conveyed under the responsibility of a postal operator' rules.
- — Customs and IT teams at platforms, marketplaces and their representatives must populate the new per-item product identifiers (merchant, non-standardised manufacturer, and standardised manufacturer where it exists) in the Supporting Document data element for H1/H6/H7 declarations — mandatory from 1 November 2026, optional from 1 July 2026 — so declaration systems must be updated ahead of that date.
- — Operators handling returns of low-value distance-sale goods must note that such consignments are excluded from invalidation of the customs declaration, so the EUR 3 duty and declaration stand even where goods are returned after release for free circulation.
Who is affected
- — E-commerce platforms and sellers making distance sales of sub-EUR 150 goods into the EU (primary declarants)
- — Carriers, agents and postal operators declaring low-value distance-sale consignments
- — Customs and IT teams responsible for H1/H6/H7 declaration systems and product-identifier data
- — EU Member State customs authorities collecting the duty
What to watch
- — 1 November 2026: the per-item product-identifier requirements (merchant, non-standardised manufacturer, and standardised manufacturer identifiers) in Annex point (2)(a) and (b) become mandatory; voluntary provision is permitted from 1 July 2026.