The European Union's new €2 handling fee on packages from outside the 27-nation bloc took effect on November 1, in a bid to curb the influx of cheap parcels, most of them from China, AFP reported. The levy comes just weeks before the Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Christmas shopping rushes.

Source: AFP via Business Today

The fee applies to each type of item in a package sent directly to consumers from outside the EU, regardless of the parcel's value. If a package holds 10 T-shirts, the handling fee is €2; if it holds two hats and 10 T-shirts, the fee is €4. Sweden's customs authority, Tullverket, confirms the fee applies across the entire EU from 1 November 2026, at €2 per goods item, on distance sales dispatched from a non-member state — covering both business-to-consumer and business-to-business-to-consumer sales — and that the declarant is liable for payment.

Source: Tullverket (Swedish Customs)

The handling fee comes on top of the €3 duty the EU imposed in July on small packages worth less than €150. The €2 fee is a permanent levy, while the €3 duty is a temporary measure in place until July 1, 2028. The EU says it will reassess the handling fee every two years to ensure it stays proportional to the cost of customs operations.

The scale of the trade is enormous: nearly six billion small packages entered the EU in 2025, according to official data — yaani about 600 crore parcels in a single year. Some 93 per cent of the cheap packages that arrived in Europe came from China, usually via Asian platforms such as AliExpress and Temu. Since the €3 duty was imposed in July, imports have fallen by around 64 per cent, although officials warn it is too early to draw firm conclusions.

The EU insists European consumers are not expected to pay the handling fee, but online retailers and sellers can add a €2 charge before a sale. The European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) said it was “concerned that some platforms may try to pass these new costs onto consumers at the final stages of the purchase” — a warning shoppers, including the large Punjabi and Indian diaspora in Europe who order heavily from these platforms, will be watching as the holiday season begins.