EU considers eliminating €150 de minimis threshold for e-commerce

The European Commission is advancing proposals to overhaul the EU's low-value consignment exemption, driven by the explosion in parcels from Temu, Shein, AliExpress, and similar platforms. Current situation: Under EU rules, goods valued below €150 enter duty-free (though VAT still applies via IOSS). This has allowed hundreds of millions of parcels per year to avoid customs duty. Scale of the problem: - Over 4 billion low-value parcels entered the EU in 2023 - The vast majority originated from China - Domestic European retailers argue this creates an unlevel playing field - Product safety concerns have been raised about goods bypassing customs checks Proposed changes: - Abolish or significantly lower the €150 customs duty threshold - Require all goods to meet full EU customs compliance - Impose new product safety and environmental standards on imported goods - Potentially introduce a handling fee per parcel to fund border processing infrastructure Timeline: Proposals are in legislative stages as of early 2026. Full implementation, if approved, would take 2–3 years. For e-commerce sellers: If the threshold is abolished, all goods sold to EU customers — regardless of value — would attract EU customs duty. This would represent a significant cost increase for cross-border sellers. Sellers using IOSS for VAT would still need separate duty arrangements.