• The EU is introducing a new customs framework, including a central EU Customs Data Hub, a new EU customs authority, simplified procedures for trusted traders and measures to manage the growth of e-commerce. The Data Hub could save member states up to €2 billion a year in operating costs.
• A €3 duty per item on low-value goods entering the EU took effect on 1 July, following the removal of the €150 duty exemption. It has generated an average of €32 million a week, exceeding €200 million in its first seven weeks.
• New handling fees are due from 1 November 2026 to cover the additional monitoring and processing costs associated with rising e-commerce volumes, with the rate to be agreed before individual member states apply it.

Customs reform looms for European Union (EU) member states as the EU’s new temporary €3 duty fee for low value goods takes hold. The European Council already greenlighted a reform of the EU customs framework, and conversations at the EU Cross-Border e-commerce Forum’s Navigating the New e-commerce Landscape panel have highlighted further changes set to take place this year.

The EU’s anticipated EU Custom Data hub is just one measure set to streamline processes and save member-states up to saving them up to €2 billion a year in operating costs.

These developments follow the EU’s implementation of a €3 duty per item on low value goods, primarily e-commerce goods, entering the Union that came into effect on the 1 July this year.

So far, an average of €32 million has been collected weekly since the latest abolishment of the EU’s exemption on low-value goods under €150 regulations were enforced, totalling over €200 million in its first seven weeks.

Further reforms include a new EU customs authority, the aforementioned EU Custom Data hub, enhanced simplifications for the most trusted traders and new rules for managing the rise in e-commerce.

Handling fees, for example, are set to come into effect from 1 November 2026, to cover the additional monitoring costs associated with processing the volume of goods coming into the with an agreed rate set prior to member states applying it.

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