Cheap packages slipped into the Union without a cent of tax for years, and that era is now formally over. Since 1 July, a temporary customs duty of 3 euro applies to every low-value parcel arriving from outside the bloc, closing a loophole that had let a flood of online orders escape the tax net.

The charge lands on goods worth less than 150 euro, the threshold that used to wave such parcels through duty-free under the so-called de minimis exemption. Brussels always framed the exemption as a convenience for small shipments, but the volumes turned it into a fiscal blind spot. Around 4.6 billion parcels under 150 euro entered the Union in 2024, and more than nine in ten came from China.

The 3 euro fee is a stopgap while lawmakers finish the more sweeping overhaul of the customs union. It stays in place until a permanent system replaces it, and it is only the first cost to appear on the label. A separate EU-wide handling fee, expected to run around 2 euro a parcel, is pencilled in for November, stacking a second charge on the same low-value shipments.

Retailers built on ultra-cheap imports feel the squeeze most sharply. A five-euro trinket that once cleared the border untouched now carries a duty worth more than half its price, and margins that thin do not survive that kind of hit. The platforms that ship directly from Chinese warehouses have spent months warning that the model that made them cheap may not withstand the new arithmetic.

European traders, who have long complained that the exemption handed foreign sellers an unearned discount, see fairness rather than protectionism. They point out that a shop in Antwerp or Lyon charges value-added tax and clears customs on the same goods, while a parcel mailed from abroad used to dodge both. Levelling that field, they argue, is overdue rather than punitive.

Consumers will notice the difference at checkout. The days of ordering a stream of tiny, tax-free packages are ending, and the total cost of a bargain now includes a customs duty that did not exist a few months ago. Whether shoppers absorb the extra charge or drift back toward domestic sellers is the open question the reform sets up.

For the Commission, the revenue is almost beside the point. The bigger prize is control over a torrent of imports that customs officers could never realistically inspect one parcel at a time. By pricing the flow rather than trying to police it, Brussels is betting it can slow the deluge while a durable framework takes shape.