New customs charge on Shein and Temu deliveries will raise costs for shoppers
Online shoppers using platforms such as Shein and Temu will soon face higher costs, after the European Union confirmed plans to introduce a new customs charge on low-value parcels entering the EU.
From 1st July 2026, the EU will apply a flat customs fee of €3 to small parcels arriving in the European market, including those sent by major e-commerce platforms. The measure was agreed by the economy ministers of all 27 EU member states.
The charge will be temporary and will remain in place until a wider reform of EU customs legislation comes into force, currently scheduled for 2028. That reform will remove the existing tax exemption for parcels valued under €150, which currently allows low-value shipments to enter the EU without paying customs duties.
The decision comes due to a sharp rise in the number of small parcels arriving in Europe. In 2023 alone, around 4.6 billion low-value packages entered the EU market, equivalent to an average of 12 million parcels every day.
EU data shows that in 2024, 91% of e-commerce shipments worth under €150 originated in China, with volumes doubling between 2023 and 2024. This surge has coincided with the rapid expansion of certain digital shopping platforms like Shein, Temu, AliExpress and Wish.
The European Commission has shown the particularly fast growth of Temu and Shein, which together exceeded 75 million users in the EU within just a few months in 2024. Their success has been driven by very low prices, aggressive advertising campaigns and increasingly short delivery times, all of which have fuelled demand for cheap imported goods.
Brussels has warned that the growing volume of parcels shipped directly to European consumers presents many challenges, particularly in terms of enforcing EU regulations. According to the Commission, around half of all counterfeit goods seized at EU borders were purchased online, and many of these products fail to meet European safety standards.
The EU executive argues that the influx of unsafe, counterfeit or non-compliant goods poses risks to consumer health and safety, creates an unsustainable environmental impact and results in unfair competition for businesses that do comply with EU rules. The new customs charge is intended as an initial step to address these concerns before new customs rules fully come into force
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