EU Ends €150 Parcel Exemption, Adds €3 Fee on Non-EU Online Orders

3 articles · Updated · Croatia Week · May 22

July 1 will bring EU customs changes that scrap the current duty exemption for e-commerce parcels worth under €150 and impose a temporary €3 charge for each tariff category in a shipment.
The fee will be collected on delivery rather than at checkout, and mixed-category orders will cost more—two T-shirts incur €3, while a T-shirt plus a phone case would be charged €6.
EU and Croatian officials say the rules are meant to curb unfair competition from non-EU sellers, limit abuse and tighten safety checks on imported goods.
HGK survey data suggest the impact could be immediate in Croatia: 52.8% of respondents said they would stop buying from non-EU online stores, while 79.5% had done so in the past three months.
The overhaul follows a surge in low-value imports—4.6 billion parcels entered the EU in 2024, 91% from China—as major couriers have already warned the July rollout could disrupt supply chains.

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