The European Union is advancing customs reform, with particular focus on e-commerce and parcels sent directly to consumers from outside the EU. On 26 March 2026 the European Parliament and the Council reached a political agreement on the package the Commission proposed in 2023.

The model provides for an EU Customs Data Hub and a European customs authority to coordinate risk assessment. Compliant traders would submit data once, through a single portal, instead of repeating declarations.

For e-commerce, the reform gives platforms clearer responsibility: to ensure duties are paid at purchase, rather than leaving obligations to the consumer when the parcel arrives. The customs-duty exemption for goods under €150 is abolished. The Commission estimates about €1 billion a year in extra customs revenue from the tailored regime.

The timetable is staged. The Data Hub is due to open for e-commerce consignments in 2028, then, on a voluntary basis, for other importers in 2031, and to become mandatory from 2034. A political agreement is not the same as full application of every measure.

Separately, the Council agreed in November 2025 to remove the de minimis exemption and apply a temporary €3 duty per item from 1 July 2026 to 1 July 2028. That does not replace the longer-term reform package.

For shoppers, effects on prices should be read from the final texts and the application timetable, not only from the 2023 proposals.

Image: Jeffrey Beall, Port of Rotterdam, 22 October 2012, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons. A port-authority vessel, not the EU Customs Data Hub. Cropped to 16:9.

Source consulted: EU Customs Reform — European Commission.