EU – EU Council Decision on Low-Value Imports 

The members of the EU Council reached a political agreement on November 13, 2025, to remove the EUR 150 customs duty relief threshold. The abolition of this specific customs duty relief will notably influence the e-commerce sector well before the measure comes into force. 

The EU Commission’s original timeframe for adopting this measure was 2028. However, the latest political and legislative developments suggest that the Commission and the Council have set their sights on introducing this new measure in 2026. At present, it’s very early to understand the full scope of this transitory solution. 

It’s been officially announced that the two EU institutions are strong supporters of implementing the new framework for customs duty collection in 2026, which is 2 years before the scheduled agenda for the establishment of a new EU customs authority (EU Customs Agency) and the interdependent development of the Central EU Data database.

The European Parliament has strongly supported the removal of the simplified customs procedure in its Resolution of 9 July 2025 on product safety and regulatory compliance in e-commerce and non-EU imports (2025/2037(INI)).

This Council’s political agreement, alongside the official position to introduce a fixed handling fee for all low-value parcel imports from 2026, indicates a new wave of customs changes that could be implemented as early as 2026. 

The Council’s resolutive approach unquestionably demonstrates a strong commitment to implementing rules that create a level playing field between online vendors and retailers. Under the current framework, retailers are continuously seeing a decrease in their market share in B2C transactions. 

The rise of e-commerce sales in the EU, mainly driven by imports of low-value goods from outside the EU, drew greater attention from public officials, who accelerated efforts to limit the inflow of fast-fashion and low-quality products.