Since 1 July, the EU has applied a temporary €3 customs duty per tariff-classification item to affected e-commerce consignments worth up to €150. The European Commission gives a simple example: five T-shirts falling under the same tariff classification result in a €3 duty, while three T-shirts and a watch result in €6 because two tariff classifications are involved.
On 21 September, the Commission adopted a delegated act setting another charge, the €2 Union handling fee. Dutch Customs, which is preparing to apply the fee from 1 November, describes the mechanism more practically as €2 per declaration line. In its example, one parcel contains two pairs of trousers, three sweaters and one pair of shoes. The goods create three declaration lines, resulting in a €6 fee.
Unlike the temporary €3 customs duty, which applies to e-commerce consignments up to €150, the new handling fee is also expected to apply to distance sales in consignments worth more than €150. This extends its effect beyond the lowest-value parcels and brings sellers of higher-value products into the same fee structure.
The new Union Customs Code, Regulation (EU) 2026/2108, was adopted on 16 September 2026, published in the Official Journal of the EU on 19 September and entered into force on 20 September. The following day, the Commission adopted the act setting the amount of the new handling fee.
Take the simplest example: a product worth €15, falling under one tariff category and shipped directly from China to an EU consumer. From November, it would be subject to €3 in customs duty and a €2 handling fee, together equal to one third of the product’s value.
That gives Chinese sellers a concrete reason to recalculate how they serve the European market.
5.9 billion products changed the EU’s approach to e-commerce
In 2025, around 5.9 billion products entered the EU in low-value e-commerce consignments, four times as many as in 2022. According to the European Commission, more than 90% came from China.
For years, this model gave Chinese manufacturers and sellers a relatively straightforward route into the European market. Goods could remain in Shenzhen, Guangzhou or Yiwu until a European customer placed an order, allowing the seller to operate without maintaining substantial stock, warehousing or a broader operational structure inside the EU.
At almost six billion products a year, the same model now generates an enormous number of customs transactions. Authorities have to verify tariff classification, value and origin while enforcing a growing body of rules on product safety and compliance. The Commission points to both the rapid growth of e-commerce and the increasing number of standards that have to be enforced at the border.
The economics of direct shipping changed in July 2026 with the introduction of the €3 duty. The €2 fee planned for November adds another cost to processing imported orders.
Direct shipping vs. bulk imports: two different calculations
The Commission partly justified the temporary €3 duty by pointing to the difference between individual e-commerce imports and traditional trade, where a larger shipment enters the EU, clears customs and is then sold to consumers.
When a consumer buys a product first and it is then shipped from China, each order crosses the border as an e-commerce import. For consignments covered by the new rules, the temporary €3 duty applies, and from November the handling fee is expected to apply as well.
Bulk imports work differently. Goods enter the EU in advance under the relevant tariff classification and customs duty rate, import VAT is accounted for, and once the goods have been released for free circulation they can be shipped to customers within the Union without each individual unit being imported again from China.
The economics of European warehousing depend on the product, its customs duty rate, bulk transport costs, warehousing, order fulfilment and the amount of capital tied up in inventory.
Under the direct e-commerce model, border costs arise repeatedly as individual orders are shipped to customers. With bulk imports, customs clearance and transport are organised for a larger volume, while subsequent sales are fulfilled from inventory already located inside the EU.
One warehouse can lead to several European service providers
A logistics decision quickly reaches beyond logistics.
A Chinese company may use a warehouse in Poland, a VAT adviser in Germany, a product-responsibility representative in the Netherlands, a customs agency in Belgium and a distributor in France. Each provider understands its own part of the process, while the Chinese client has to combine all of those elements into one functioning European operation.
A question about warehousing leads to decisions about the place of import, customs clearance and VAT. Returns, EPR, GPSR and product-specific requirements follow. As the business grows, the company may also need a local representative, accounting services, a legal entity, employees or a distributor.
The first enquiry may go to a warehouse operator or customs agency. During the same conversation, the client may start asking about VAT, product compliance or local representation. The company involved at the beginning of the process often becomes the entry point to several other services.
For law firms, tax advisers and product-compliance specialists, winning Chinese clients can also depend on relationships with logistics operators, customs agencies and other providers that meet the client earlier in its European expansion.
Smaller manufacturers and sellers need these services too
Temu, SHEIN and the largest Chinese marketplaces receive most of the attention, but the need for European services extends much further down the market.
A company selling several product categories regularly into two or three EU countries may already have enough scale for European inventory to make economic sense, while still having no internal tax, legal or logistics department and no dedicated product-compliance team.
Such companies buy those capabilities externally. A warehouse operator manages inventory and orders, a customs agency handles imports and classification, a tax firm deals with VAT, a compliance specialist supports GPSR or EPR requirements, and a law firm may later help with contracts, employment or setting up a local entity.
The EU is also indicating the direction of travel for 2028
The new Union Customs Code introduces a special customs warehouse for distance sales model. Goods sold at a distance from such a warehouse are expected to be subject to a lower Union handling fee than direct consignments sent to consumers from third countries.
The Commission explains the rationale in practical terms: from 2028, the fee will be lower where the importer operates a customs warehouse because customs checks are easier.
This mechanism will only become relevant from 1 July 2028, and the amount of the lower fee has not yet been set. It should not be included in a warehouse cost calculation today.
The system is increasingly being designed around a distinction between billions of individual parcels crossing the border after a sale and models in which part of the operation is already located in Europe.
Where EnterChina fits in
At Xijinmenhu (西进门户), we make European service firms visible to the Chinese companies that need them when selling and operating in Europe.
A Chinese seller starts by calculating the cost of an individual parcel. If that calculation leads the company to consider European warehousing, it soon needs providers for customs clearance, VAT, product compliance, representation, returns and local distribution.
These services are available across Europe, but for a company in China researching the European market, they remain fragmented and often difficult to find.
A logistics operator ranks well on Google. A law firm has a strong reputation in its domestic market. A VAT adviser already works with hundreds of European clients. None of that guarantees visibility when a Chinese company starts its research in Chinese, in a different information environment, and from the business problem it needs to solve rather than the formal name of a European service category.
European companies can test that visibility themselves. Ask a Chinese-speaking person who does not know your company to find a solution for a Chinese seller considering warehousing and sales operations in Europe after the new EU charges. Then see which providers appear as the research moves on to customs clearance, VAT and product compliance.
If the right European company is absent while the client is still assembling its European operation, it may also be absent when that client later builds a shortlist of providers.
Sources
European Commission, Ensuring fairness and safety: €3 customs duty for low-value parcels, 29 June 2026. Rules for the temporary €3 customs duty and examples involving five T-shirts and a basket containing products under two tariff classifications. Accessed 5 October 2026.
https://commission.europa.eu/news-and-media/news/ensuring-fairness-and-safety-eur3-customs-duty-low-value-parcels-2026-06-29_en
European Commission, EU Customs Reform. Data on 5.9 billion low-value e-commerce products in 2025, a fourfold increase compared with 2022, and more than 90% originating in China, together with an overview of the customs reform, the handling fee and the future customs warehouse model. Accessed 5 October 2026.
https://taxation-customs.ec.europa.eu/customs/eu-customs-reform_en
Dutch Customs, Afhandelingsvergoeding (handling fee) voor e-commerce. €2 fee per declaration line, expected application from 1 November 2026, coverage of consignments above €150 and an example of a parcel with three declaration lines resulting in a €6 fee. Accessed 5 October 2026.
https://www.douane.nl/onderwerpen/invoer-en-uitvoer/invoer/e-commerce/afhandelingsvergoeding/
Regulation (EU) 2026/2108, Union Customs Code, adopted on 16 September 2026, published on 19 September 2026 and in force from 20 September 2026. Legal basis for the Union handling fee and the future customs warehouse for distance sales model. Accessed 5 October 2026.
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2026/2108/oj/eng