The €2 EU Union handling fee and the €3 customs duty: in-depth explanation

Short on time? See the €2 EU handling fee from 1 November 2026: quick summary.

From 1 November 2026, EU customs will charge a flat €2 Union handling fee (UHF) per item on goods sold in distance sales. It comes on top of the €3 temporary customs duty that has applied since 1 July 2026. For a typical low-value IOSS parcel, that means €5 in customs charges per declaration line: €3 duty plus €2 Union Handling Fee, UHF, both charged on the same declaration.

Parcels worth more than €150 sold in a distance sale do not pay the €3 duty, but they do pay the €2 UHF per declaration line, on top of normal duty.

Timeline

The Commission was also due to assess by 1 October 2026 whether trade is being diverted to avoid the €3 duty and, if so, to propose extending it to all goods in consignments up to €150. The outcome is not yet known.

At a glance

The €3 temporary customs duty

Since 1 July 2026, goods sold in distance sales in consignments worth up to €150 pay a flat €3 per item, until 1 July 2028.

It covers:

• All goods imported under IOSS, whatever declaration type is used (H1, H6 or H7).
• All other distance-sale goods in consignments up to €150 (Special Arrangements or standard VAT), unless a preferential duty rate is claimed in an H1 declaration.
• Goods previously excluded from the exemption, such as alcohol, perfumes, toilet waters and tobacco.

Key terms:

• Intrinsic value: the price of the goods themselves, excluding transport and insurance (unless included in the price and not shown separately) and other taxes and charges.
• Consignment: goods sent by one consignor to one consignee under one transport contract. Separately ordered or shipped parcels are separate consignments, even if they arrive on the same day. Orders from two consumers are always two declarations.
• Item: goods in a consignment that share the same tariff classification, description and, where declared, origin. In practice, the duty applies per declaration line, whatever the quantity on that line. Grouping lines under the highest duty rate is not allowed.

The €2 Union Handling Fee (UHF)

From 1 November 2026, EU customs authorities start collecting a flat €2 per item for handling the release of goods sold in distance sales.

• Any value: unlike the €3 duty, the UHF also applies to consignments above €150, as long as the goods were sold in a distance sale.
• Per item: counted per declaration line, whatever the quantity, in the same way as the €3 duty.
• Even with preferential origin: goods paying a preferential duty rate still pay the UHF.
• Permanent: there is no end date. From 1 July 2028 a lower amount is planned for goods sold from a customs warehouse for distance sales.
• When it is due: when the customs declaration is accepted, in the EU country where it is lodged.
• Non-refundable: the fee stays due if goods are refused after acceptance, if the declaration is later invalidated, or if goods are returned. It is only not due if the declaration is never accepted.

What counts as a distance sale: goods supplied by a business (including a marketplace acting as deemed supplier) to a private customer in the EU, while the goods are outside the EU, and shipped by or on behalf of the seller. Goods sold to consumers before being stored in an EU customs warehouse for final distribution are also covered. Combining distance sales into one bulk import does not avoid the charges: customs treat each underlying sale separately.

How the two charges are counted

Both charges are triggered on the same import declaration, counted on the same declaration lines and owed by the same declarant. They are charged per declaration line, not per parcel and not per unit. On H6 and H7 declarations they are calculated automatically as number of lines × amount.

Worked examples (customs charges only, before VAT)

A preferential rate can only be claimed in an H1 declaration, and only when IOSS is not used. Every IOSS import pays the €3 duty.

Why grouping matters. How items are grouped into declaration lines in your logistics chain decides how much you pay. For example, three books printed in the UK, China and the USA, all under HS code 4901 99:

• In an IOSS parcel, they can be grouped into one line regardless of origin: €5 in total (€3 duty + €2 UHF).
• In a DDP parcel over €150, they cannot be grouped, because origin is declared and differs: €6 in UHF (3 × €2), plus normal duty.

Who pays

The declarant owes both the €3 duty and the €2 UHF. Until 30 June 2028, the declarant is, in this order:

1. The IOSS holder, or its indirect representative.
2. If IOSS is not used: the Special Arrangements user, or its indirect representative.
3. Otherwise: the importer's indirect representative, usually appointed by the carrier.
4. Only as a last resort, and never with IOSS: the consumer, where the EU country offers a free online declaration.

In practice, if you want your customers to have a true delivered-duty-paid experience, you need to collect both the €3 duty and the €2 UHF at checkout and make sure your logistics chain pays them to customs on your behalf.

If you ship through postal channels, keep monitoring how your postal operator handles prepaid duty (PDDP), as coverage varies by country. EAS also offers its own postal solutions: EAS EU DDP, and Swiss Post DDP for selected Swiss merchants.

VAT on the charges

IOSS parcels (€150 or less): if you collect the €3 duty and the €2 UHF from your customer at checkout, both are subject to VAT and are reported in your IOSS return. If you do not collect the €2 UHF at checkout for IOSS parcels, the UHF is not subject to VAT, but it is then payable at customs by the end customer.

Parcels over €150: the €2 UHF forms part of the value for import VAT and is subject to VAT.

Returns:

• The €3 duty can only be recovered under the general customs refund rules (Article 116 UCC), which are normally not available directly to merchants.
• The €2 UHF is never refunded.
• VAT on the €3 duty and the €2 UHF is recoverable on IOSS parcels as part of your normal VAT return.
• For parcels over €150, recovery depends on the logistics procedure used. Users of EAS EU DDP and Swiss Post DDP can recover the VAT on the €2 UHF.

Checklist

• Budget €5 per tariff line for parcels of €150 or less (€3 duty + €2 UHF), plus VAT where you charge them at checkout.
• Budget €2 per tariff line on distance sales above €150, on top of normal duty, and check your landed cost allows for it.
• Provide accurate tariff codes and descriptions. The number of declaration lines drives both charges.
• Check that items with the same HS code are grouped correctly in your supply chain. Users of EAS EU DDP and Swiss Post DDP have items grouped into HS lines automatically.
• If you use IOSS and charge the UHF to customers, include it in your IOSS VAT return.
• Provide product identifiers (M-PID, NS-PID, S-PID) for each item.
• Plan for returns: the UHF is not refunded, and the €3 duty only under general refund rules.

EAS checkout and landed cost

EAS will support calculation of both the €3 duty and the €2 UHF in the EAS landed cost, through the WooCommerce plugin and the EAS API. We expect commercial e-commerce platforms to update their own landed cost solutions to allow collection of the €2 UHF.

Related reading

• The €3 EU Customs Duty from 1 July 2026: What We Know So Far
• Setting up €3 EU customs duty collection: Shopify, WooCommerce and EAS API
• Royal Mail PDDP limitations: EU countries where the €3 duty is not prepaid

Sources

• European Commission: The temporary EUR 3 customs duty and the Union handling fee, Guidance for Member States and Trade (version of 5 October 2026)
• EU Customs Reform, European Commission
• Council Regulation (EU) 2026/382

Questions? Email support@easproject.com or schedule a meeting with EAS.