ieExplains: From Sunday, you have to pay €2 for non-EU items. Here’s what you need to know

Fee aims to curb cheap purchases from online retailers such as Amazon, AliExpress, Temu, or Shein, which have exploded in popularity, while ensuring goods shipped to customers in the EU comply with EU laws.

From Sunday, a €2 handling fee will be introduced for parcels being ordered from outside the European Union.

The charge kicks in before Black Friday sale offers on November 27 and the Christmas shopping season.

It is also separate from the €3 customs duty per item that has applied since July 1 on packages worth less than €150.

Why is the charge being introduced?

As its name would suggest, the ‘Union Handling Fee’ is being introduced to cover the increased costs being incurred by customs authorities due to an explosion in online shopping.

The charge will help cover the cost of managing the “avalanche of individual parcels”, a press release issued on behalf of the European Parliament said.

The fee will be revised every two years to keep it “proportional” to costs, it added, meaning the fee may go up from November 1, 2028.

It also aims to curb cheap purchases from online retailers such as Amazon, AliExpress, Temu, or Shein, which have exploded in popularity, while ensuring goods shipped to customers in the EU comply with EU laws.

What is the EU’s problem?

The charge is part of wider customs reforms being introduced by the EU to tackle an influx of small parcels from outside the bloc.

The number of e-commerce parcels worth under €150 imported into the EU has grown from 0.66 billion in 2022 to 5.7 billion in 2025, with more than 90% coming from China.

In Ireland, about 53 million parcels worth less than €150 were imported in 2025, making up 88% of total consignments.

One of the major aspects of the EU’s customs proposals is an EU Customs Data Hub, where online purchases in and out of the EU will be recorded from July 2028. The €3 customs duty will apply until the data hub is in operation.

There will also be a new EU customs authority set up in France.

Dutch MEP Dirk Gotink, who is part of the EU committee that scrutinised the customs proposals, said it represented the “biggest reform of European customs” since 1968 and would help support 80,000 customs officers across Europe.

“As rapporteur, I have seen firsthand the tsunami of Chinese parcels violating EU rules, not paying taxes, and overwhelming our customs,” he said.

We are ending the highly toxic business model of cheap, non-compliant, and dangerous imports from China in favour of trade based on our standards and on fairer competition.

“We are finally giving Europe’s 80,000 customs officers the instruments they need to protect consumers and businesses for the decades to come.”

How will the charge apply?

The €2 handling fee will apply to each distinct item you buy that is sent from outside the European Union, no matter their value.

If you buy a pen, notebook, and key ring online from a shop outside the EU, worth €10 in total, those three separate items will each attract a €2 handling fee, so a total of €6.

If you include the €3 customs duty charge, which also applies to each item, it will add a further €9, bringing the minimum extra charges to €15, plus any applicable VAT.

If the package had two identical items, such as two t-shirts, these will be considered one item.

The fee is not refundable, even when you return the items because they do not fit or are faulty.

The Union Handling Fee will not apply where the goods are being ordered from Ireland, Northern Ireland, or from another EU country.

Who pays the charge?

It’s not yet clear how the charge will be implemented in practice.

The Union Handling Fee will be initially paid by the online retailers, or by the business delivering the goods, but this charge may be passed to the consumer.

If the charge is passed on to consumers, you could be charged the Union Handling Fee at checkout or upon delivery.

Some websites will be set up to collect the Union Handling Fee or customs duty at the point of sale.

In this case, both charges should be shown to you, and the total price you pay at checkout should be the final price, with no extra charges on delivery.

In other cases, the delivery company (for example, An Post or a courier service such as DHL) could ask you to pay the Union Handling Fee per item before your goods can be delivered.

If online retailers repeatedly fail to meet their obligations, such as making sure EU standards are upheld and appropriate duty paid, the EU has said they will face financial penalties, including fines of up to 6% of the company’s annual import value.

Things to look out for:

• Scams: The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission has warned people if you receive a message saying you must pay customs charges, you should stop and check if it is legitimate before clicking any links in the message.
• Irish websites and businesses shipping goods from non-EU locations: Even if a website has an “.ie” domain or displays prices in euro, the goods may still be shipped from a non-EU country. Check where goods need to be returned to if you want to avoid the handling fee charge.

The CCPC said it had received 38 consumer queries about the two new EU charges since June, with 37 about the customs charge.

“Some queries concerned confusion over buying from an .ie domain name only to learn the trader was located outside of Ireland, and the EU, and so the purchase was liable for a customs charge.

"Our advice to consumers is to check where the company you are buying from is located and review their terms and conditions for any information regarding shipping, delivery, and charges. Remember too that these charges also apply to packages shipped from Britain.”