EU’s €150 Duty Exemption Ends July 1: What Shoppers Must Know

Starting Thursday, July 1—four days from now—a rule that made importing small packages into Europe nearly cost-free disappears. If you shop US stores and ship to an EU address, this change affects every order you place from here on. Here is what it means and what to do about it.

The Rule That Is Ending

For decades, the EU operated a de minimis customs threshold: goods valued at €150 or less entered any EU member state completely free of import duty. VAT still applied on arrival, but no customs duty. This exemption covered an extraordinary volume of trade—roughly 4.6 billion low-value consignments entered the EU in 2024, approximately 12 million parcels per day. For international shoppers buying fashion, accessories, electronics, and household goods from US retailers, the exemption made the math simple: shop the price, pay VAT, move on.

What Changes on July 1, 2026

The European Commission has confirmed the €150 customs duty exemption is abolished on July 1, 2026. In its place, a flat-rate customs duty of €3 applies per item on consignments valued under €150. The duty is charged against each distinct product in a shipment—classified separately by tariff heading—not against the parcel as a whole. A single order containing three different products carries €9 in flat duty, regardless of the items’ individual prices.

This interim rate runs until July 1, 2028, when the EU Customs Data Hub for ecommerce goes online and full product-specific duty rates based on each item’s HS classification take over. Because EU VAT is calculated on total landed value including duty, your effective VAT bill on dutiable orders will also be marginally higher than before.

A Second Fee May Follow in Late 2026

Separate from the €3 customs duty is a proposed EU-wide customs handling fee—expected around €2 per parcel—still under negotiation between the European Council and the European Parliament. An amount and implementation date are expected from autumn 2026. It has not been finalized, but the direction is clear: low-value imports into the EU are no longer a customs-light experience.

The Real Cost for Shoppers Buying from US Stores

The practical impact depends on what you order and how often.

• Small, inexpensive items feel the pinch most. A $15 phone case that previously arrived duty-free now carries €3 in flat customs duty—a significant surcharge on a low-priced purchase before shipping costs or VAT are added.
• Multi-item orders accumulate duty quickly. Five different products in one shipment means €15 in flat duty, charged item by item regardless of value.
• Orders already over €150 were already subject to standard EU import duties, so those shipments see no structural change to the duty calculation itself.
• Packages already in transit and clearing EU customs before July 1 still qualify for the old exemption. Factor current transit times into any decision to expedite a pending order.

Why Consolidating US Purchases Makes More Sense Now

Because the €3 duty is charged per item—not per parcel—the total duty on a given set of purchases is the same whether you send one box or five. What consolidation changes is the number of customs events your goods trigger. Carriers typically impose their own clearance or handling fees per parcel processed at the border; fewer shipments mean fewer of those charges stacking up on top of the duty.

Routing purchases through a US package consolidation service before they leave the country lets orders from several different US retailers travel to Europe as a single shipment. Viabox provides a real US warehouse address, holds packages as they arrive from any US store, and ships them as one consolidated box internationally on your schedule. That model was already efficient for cutting per-pound shipping costs; the new fee environment adds a second practical reason to consolidate before the Atlantic crossing.

What to Do Before and After July 1

• Orders you want cleared under the old rules must reach EU customs before July 1. Check current transit times if you are deciding whether to expedite a pending shipment.
• For orders shipping after July 1, add €3 per item to your landed-cost estimate before checkout. The price displayed on a US site is not the price that arrives at your door.
• Ask your carrier about their separate customs clearance or handling fee—this charge is distinct from the €3 duty and varies by carrier and route.
• If you regularly buy from multiple US stores, consolidating purchases at a US address before shipping internationally reduces the number of per-parcel carrier charges triggered at customs.

The full EU customs overhaul—with standard product-specific rates for all consignments—arrives in 2028. For now, the €3 flat rate applies to every item in every sub-€150 order entering the EU, and the cost of shopping US stores and shipping to Europe has a new line item attached to every delivery.

If you ship US purchases into Europe regularly and want to keep costs manageable, Viabox gives you a free US address, free package consolidation, and worldwide door-to-door shipping with no monthly fee. Consolidating before you cross the Atlantic is now smarter than it has ever been.