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01 - The Brief
The Commission has formally set the Union handling fee at €2 per item
On 21 September 2026, the European Commission adopted a delegated regulation (C(2026) 6694) setting the new Union handling fee at €2 per item. This is the charge we flagged in Issue #15 as still being negotiated, the amount is now fixed. It supplements the new Union Customs Code (Regulation (EU) 2026/2108) and is a separate charge from the €3 customs duty that has been in force since 1 July.
It applies from 1 November, on a per-item basis
The fee is targeted to apply from 1 November 2026. Critically, it's €2 per item, not €2 per parcel, where an "item" follows the same logic as the €3 duty: goods in a consignment sharing the same tariff classification and origin. So a parcel with several different product types can carry multiple €2 fees, exactly as it carries multiple €3 duties. From November, a multi-item order stacks both charges per item.
National handling fees must stop once it applies
A genuinely important detail: the Union handling fee is the only such charge customs authorities may levy for these services, so member states must stop applying their own national handling fees once the EU fee takes effect. In concrete terms, France's €2 national tax has been suspended, Romania's 25 lei per-parcel fee is expected to end, and Italy's contribution (which had been postponed to 1 December) is not expected to apply. So for those markets this partly replaces a national fee rather than being purely additive; for most, it's a new cost on top of the duty.
02 — The Deep Dive
The second parcel charge is now confirmed: what's settled, what the combined cost looks like, and what's still being clarified
In Issue #15, we drew a careful line: the €3 customs duty was law, while the €2 handling fee was still a proposal whose amount hadn't been set. That line has now moved. With the Commission's delegated act of 21 September, the handling fee's amount is fixed and its November start is in view. This issue is the confirmed follow-up, what you can now treat as settled, what the combined charges actually look like per order, and the few details still being clarified.
What's now settled
The core facts are no longer provisional. The Union handling fee is set at €2 per item by Commission delegated regulation C(2026) 6694, adopted 21 September 2026 under Article 20 of the new Union Customs Code. It is designed to cover the cost to customs authorities of handling the volume of distance-sale parcels, and it's structured as a fixed amount per item rather than a percentage of value. The Commission's timetable targets application by 1 November 2026, and the amount will be reviewed every two years based on cost reports.
Per item, not per parcel, and why that matters
The most important operational detail is the charging basis, and it's now confirmed: the fee is per item, not per parcel. An "item" here means goods in a consignment that share the same tariff classification and origin (at HS subheading level), the same definition used for the €3 duty. The practical consequence is significant for anyone shipping multi-item orders. A parcel containing three genuinely different products isn't charged €2, it's charged €2 three times, just as it now carries the €3 duty three times. For bundle sellers and multi-line orders, the per-item basis is where the real cost compounds.
The headline is "€2," but the unit is the trap. It's €2 per item, not per parcel. For low-value parcels (under €150) it stacks on the €3 per-item duty; above €150 the €3 duty doesn't apply but the €2 fee still does. A three-product low-value parcel can carry €15 in combined duty and handling fees before VAT, not €5.
The combined cost, concretely
Here's what the stack looks like from November, for a non-EU distance sale. For a low-value consignment (€150 or less), each distinct item can attract the €3 temporary customs duty plus the €2 handling fee, plus import VAT. So a single-item €20 order could see €3 duty + €2 handling = €5 in combined charges before VAT, and a three-item parcel of different products could see €15 before VAT. One precise point worth getting right: the €2 handling fee has no value threshold and applies to all distance sales (including consignments above €150, and B2B is out of scope), whereas the €3 duty is specifically the under-€150 measure. So above €150 you're looking at the €2 fee per item but not the €3 duty. Either way, the per-item structure is what compounds the cost on multi-item orders, exactly the ultra-cheap marketplace-bundle model the reform targets. Note too that the handling fee is non-refundable, even if the goods are returned.
The national-fee replacement, a rare piece of simplification
One part of this is genuinely simplifying rather than additive. Several member states introduced their own national handling fees during the transition, we noted Italy, France and Romania in earlier issues. Under the new rules, the Union handling fee is the only charge customs may levy for these services, and the Commission has confirmed member states must withdraw their national fees once the EU fee applies. So the picture isn't simply "another fee on top of everything", for shipments into countries that already had a national fee, the €2 EU fee partly steps into that place. The net effect depends on which countries you ship to and what they were already charging.
The one genuine variable left: the scrutiny period
The amount and structure are set, but one procedural step remains before it's fully locked. As a delegated act, the regulation is under scrutiny by the European Parliament and Council until 21 October 2026, and it enters into force only if no objection is raised. Publication in the Official Journal is then expected around 22 October, with application 10 days later, hence the 1 November target, and no delay is currently expected. National customs are already preparing (Dutch Customs, for instance, has announced €2 from 1 November). So this is as close to settled as it gets short of final publication: plan around 1 November, while knowing the formal collection date follows that last step.
Action plan, before 1 November
Add €2 per item to your landed-cost model now. Update your cost and pricing calculations so the handling fee sits alongside the €3 duty, per item, not per parcel. Do this before November, not after.
Model your multi-item orders specifically. If you ship bundles or multi-product parcels, calculate the stacked per-item cost (€3 + €2 per distinct item). That's where the combined charge is largest and most likely to surprise you.
Decide who absorbs it, and factor returns. As with the duty, you can absorb the fee into price or pass it through at checkout, decide deliberately and reflect it before it starts. Note the fee is non-refundable even on returned goods, so build that into your returns policy and margins, not just your checkout.
Check which of your markets had national fees. Where you ship to countries that already charged a national handling fee, factor in that those must now stop, the net change may be smaller there than the headline suggests.
Watch for the final collection date and national guidance. The 1 November target depends on Official Journal publication. Confirm the exact date and any national-customs specifics for your key markets rather than assuming.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax or customs advice. The €2 amount and per-item basis are set by Commission delegated regulation C(2026) 6694; the act remains under the standard Parliament/Council scrutiny period and takes effect on Official Journal publication, with application targeted for 1 November 2026. Confirm current specifics with a qualified adviser or your carrier before making pricing decisions.
03 — The Stack
A landed-cost calculator that itemises duty and fees
Given this week's topic, the most useful tool is anything that lets you model the full per-item landed cost before November, including our own free toolkit.
Per-item modelling ✓Duty + fee + VAT ✓All 27 EU markets ✓No signup ✓Free ✓
With two per-item charges now stacking plus VAT, a clear landed-cost view matters more than ever. Our own free EU VAT and customs toolkit (linked from this newsletter) lets you work through VAT and duty per market, and the same per-item logic now applies to the €2 handling fee on top. Whatever tool you use, the key is that it itemises, showing duty, handling fee, and VAT separately and per item, rather than giving a single blended parcel figure that hides where the cost actually accrues.
The one limitation worth noting: because the handling fee's final collection date and some scope edges are still being confirmed, any calculator (ours included) models the fee as announced (€2 per item from 1 November), not as a guaranteed, published-in-the-Official-Journal certainty. Treat the output as a well-grounded planning figure, and re-check once the final legal date is published.
Not a sponsored placement. No affiliate relationship.
04 — The Number
€5
The combined per-item charge, €3 customs duty plus the newly-set €2 handling fee, on a non-EU distance-sale item from 1 November 2026, before import VAT and any carrier charges.
Source: Commission Delegated Regulation C(2026) 6694 (21 September 2026); Regulation (EU) 2026/2108; European Commission
Five euros per item is the number to internalise, because it's per item, not per parcel. On a genuinely low-value product, €5 in fixed charges before VAT is a large percentage of the order value, and on a multi-item parcel it multiplies. This is the EU's deliberate answer to the ultra-cheap cross-border parcel: not one dramatic charge, but a stack of modest per-item ones that, together, reprice the entire low-value import model.
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