From 1 November 2026, parcels from outside the EU fall under two European charging mechanisms, while Romania scraps its national €25-lei logistics fee, Deșteptarea reports. The EU has introduced a €2 processing fee per item, on top of the €3 customs duty applied since July on low-value parcels.

The processing fee is set in Delegated Regulation 2026/2152 under the Customs Code reform (Regulation 2026/2108). It applies per item in a parcel, regardless of value, where distance-selling conditions are met — not only under the €150 threshold. It is permanent, unlike the temporary €3 customs duty limited to low-value parcels.

Romania’s 25-lei fee on extra-EU parcels of up to €150, introduced on 1 January 2026 by Law 239/2025 and collected by couriers, ends from 1 November under GEO 43/2026 so it does not overlap with the EU processing fee. It lasted only ten months.

Timeline: January — RO 25-lei fee; July — EU €3/item customs duty (low value); November — EU €2/item processing fee plus end of the RO fee. Costs rise with the number of items in a parcel, not merely the number of parcels.

The measures target the surge of small parcels from outside the EU, especially China, and competitive advantages of some extra-EU platforms. For shoppers, the impact depends on how platforms pass costs into prices or delivery charges.

Image: parcel delivery (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0).

Sources consulted: Two European fees for parcels from outside the EU from 1 November - Deșteptarea.