Buying cheap on platforms like Temu, Shein or AliExpress will soon be much more expensive. From 1 July 2026 the European Union will introduce a new fee on goods from China. According to EU officials, the higher-priced goods should bring more benefits than losses.
Additional 3 euros for every purchased item
Until now, parcels with a value not exceeding 150 euros were exempt from customs duty. This meant that although some goods were subject to VAT, they were still sold at very favorable prices for Europeans shopping online. Every day, millions of items reached Europe this way. Now an additional fee will be imposed on each of them. EU officials claim it will be beneficial for consumers. How?
In fact, the European Union, by introducing fees on every purchased item, hopes to eliminate cheap Chinese “junk” from the European market. However, it should be noted that the quality of goods delivered by e‑commerce platforms from China to Europe has improved significantly in recent years. That did not convince EU decision‑makers. From 1 July 2026 a fee of 3 euros will be applied to every item in a parcel. This means that for an order containing, for example, 4 cheap goods, the consumer will have to pay an extra 12 euros, or over 51 zlotys. In many cases this can significantly exceed the value of the purchased items.
Until now customs duty applied only to parcels whose value exceeded 150 euros. According to EU officials, Chinese platforms were avoiding this fee by splitting orders made by Europeans into smaller shipments to avoid customs duty.
The new tax, which will be introduced in a week, is expected by EU representatives to also benefit member states, which will receive revenue for the budget from duties imposed on items from China. The fee, which will take effect from Wednesday 1 July 2026, will be transitional. This method of duty calculation will apply for two years. From 1 July 2028 the standard duty calculation, depending on the type of goods, will probably return.
It should be noted that this is only the beginning of larger fees on goods from China. From November 2026 there will be an EU handling fee, so small parcels from Asia will be even more expensive.
Help for European manufacturers
Although consumers with higher prices will certainly not be satisfied, the introduction of fees not only increases revenue for EU member states’ budgets but also fights cheap low‑quality goods has another important purpose. In this way the European Union wants to help European manufacturers who are losing in competition with Chinese enterprises. Consumers largely choose goods from the Middle Kingdom because they are much cheaper than those produced on the Old Continent, and often their quality is comparable to that offered by domestic companies. Companies operating within the European Union, where running a business is much more expensive than in Asia, are at a disadvantage. EU officials, in this situation, decided not to remove some of the fees from producers operating in “community” countries. Instead, they added extra fees that consumers will have to cover, thereby helping European firms fight Chinese competition.
See also: Temu vs. Europe. Who will pay for cheap parcels from China?
