One-line definition: the EU's €150 customs change removes the long-standing exemption that let goods worth under €150 enter the EU duty-free, replacing it from 1 July 2026 with a temporary flat customs duty of €3 per item - so low-value imports that used to arrive duty-free now carry a charge.
For years, low-value goods entering the EU got a duty break: anything under €150 came in free of customs duty, even though VAT still applied. That threshold is being scrapped. From 1 July 2026, the exemption is gone and a temporary flat duty takes its place, and if your store imports stock, dropships from outside the EU, or ships into the EU from a non-EU base, it changes your landed costs and your paperwork. Here's exactly what's changing, who it affects, and what to do about it before the deadline.
What's actually changing
The mechanics are more specific than the headlines suggest, so it's worth getting them right.
The €150 duty-free exemption ends on 30 June 2026. From 1 July 2026, low-value consignments up to €150 - previously exempt - become subject to a temporary flat customs duty of €3 per item. This interim system runs until 1 July 2028, when the EU's new Customs Data Hub is due to go live and normal, product-specific tariffs will apply based on classification. In other words, the €3 flat fee is a bridge, and the longer-term direction is full duty on everything.
One detail matters for how much you'll actually pay: the €3 is charged per item category, not per unit. A parcel with five identical T-shirts counts as one item and incurs €3; a parcel with one T-shirt and one watch counts as two categories and incurs €6. So the charge scales with the variety of goods in a consignment, not the quantity.
Crucially, this duty is separate from VAT and applies regardless of your VAT scheme. If you already collect EU VAT through IOSS, that continues exactly as before - the €3 duty is on top. Low-value imports now face both a VAT obligation and a duty obligation where they used to face only VAT. For the background on how these thresholds work, our explainer on the de minimis threshold covers the fundamentals.
Who this affects
The change hits goods crossing into the EU customs territory from outside it - so whether it touches you depends on your supply chain, not just where your store is registered.
You're affected if you import inventory into the EU from a non-EU country, if you dropship products to EU customers directly from suppliers outside the EU, or if you're a non-EU business shipping orders into the EU. If any of those describe you, parcels that used to clear duty-free under €150 will now carry the €3-per-item duty from July 2026.
If you're an EU-based store shipping to customers within the EU from stock already inside the EU, those individual orders aren't the target of this change - goods in free circulation inside the EU move as before. But your inbound inventory very much is affected: the components and stock you bring in from outside the EU now cost more to land. Almost every store touches this somewhere in its supply chain, which is why it's worth understanding even if your customer-facing shipping looks unchanged.
Who pays the €3 - and why it's your problem either way
Officially, the duty is owed by the declarant - the seller, the IOSS holder, or their customs representative - not charged directly to the consumer at the border. The EU has been explicit that this is meant to level the playing field between direct-import e-commerce and traditional retail, not to tax shoppers.
In practice, that means the cost lands on you, and you decide what to do with it. You can absorb the €3 into your margin, build it into your pricing, or fold it into the landed cost you present to the customer. What you shouldn't do is ignore it and let it quietly erode the margin on every low-value import - on thin-margin products, €3 per item category is not trivial once it's applied across your volume. Treat it as a real line in your cost of goods and price accordingly.
What to do before July 2026
The good news is that the preparation is mostly discipline you should have anyway, and there's time to get it in place.
First, make sure your IOSS registration is sound and your EU VAT is being collected cleanly at checkout - that obligation isn't going anywhere and the new duty sits alongside it. Second, get your HS/tariff codes accurate on every product, because correct classification is what determines the duty now and will determine full tariffs from 2028. Third, revisit your pricing and landed-cost calculations for any low-value imported goods so the €3-per-item duty is accounted for rather than absorbed by accident. And fourth, tighten your customs paperwork - accurate commercial invoices and clean product data - so the extra scrutiny that comes with the end of the exemption doesn't turn into held parcels.
Getting the paperwork right on every consignment is exactly the kind of repetitive work worth handing to software: Packrooster Shipping generates the customs documents from the product and value data you've stored, as part of creating the label, so the declarations stay accurate as volume grows. For the wider picture of running compliant cross-border shipping, our guide to managing international shipping on Shopify pulls it together.
The €150 change is part of a bigger direction of travel - the EU, like the US before it, is closing the low-value import loophole for good. The stores that handle it well won't be the ones who scramble in July; they'll be the ones who priced it in, cleaned up their tariff codes, and automated their paperwork while there was still time to do it calmly.
