EU Council Document Touches on November Fee

The Council of the European Union (EU) published its first reading on the Union Customs Code earlier this week. A handling fee for distance-sale imports is noted in the document, but the amount remains unset. The document notes there will be “a lower fee applying to goods released from customs warehouses for distance sales.”

Earlier this year, the Council and European Parliament reached a provisional political agreement on establishing the Union Customs Code and the European Union Customs Authority. One aspect of the reforms is a handling fee for imports into the EU from distance sales. Expectations are that the fee will take effect on or before November 1, with some observers expecting the fee to be in the €2/item range.

The Council document confirms there will be a per-item handling fee, which means it is based on customs classification (HS code) similar to the current interim €3 duty for distance sales into EU. In addition, the fee will stack on top of the €3 duty, at least until July 1, 2028, when ad valorem duties take effect. But nowhere in the document is a fee amount indicated.

A few steps remain before the fee is codified and implemented. Parliament must still complete its second reading before the Regulation can be formally adopted and published.

Here are the steps that still must occur, as laid out in this helpful article from the International Desk:

• The final Union Customs Code must be adopted and published.

• The Commission must adopt the act setting the fee within 10 days of publication.

• Parliament and Council would normally have 30 days to object, unless both approve it sooner.

• The handling-fee provision would apply 10 days after that delegated act enters into force.

• The Council and Parliament have said member states should start applying the fee no later than 1 November 2026. This is an agreed target, not a confirmed charging date.