Two-Euro Flat Fee on China Packages: What the New EU Customs Charge Means for You

TVS News AI, editorially supervised, presents Two-Euro Flat Fee on China Packages: What the New EU Customs Charge Means for You.

Around six billion packages were delivered to the EU by online retailers in 2025 – the lion's share comes from China, via platforms like Shein, Temu, and AliExpress. Now the EU is planning a flat two-euro fee on each of these low-value parcels. What this means for buyers in Germany – and why policymakers want to recalculate imports.

The existing customs rules were designed for individual, often significantly more expensive shipments – with the current volume, they are visibly hitting their limits. With the flat fee, the EU wants to simplify the procedure and distribute the actual costs more fairly, according to a Spiegel report.

How does the new two-euro flat fee work?

Specifically, it's a flat charge of two euros per package from third countries, primarily China. According to Spiegel, it is intended to cover the costs of import – that is, the administrative burden that the flood of cheap imports places on customs and logistics. A fragmented processing system thus becomes a single flat amount per shipment.

Will your Shein package now cost more?

Whether the two-euro charge ultimately lands with you as the buyer is still unclear. Platforms like Shein, Temu, and AliExpress could absorb the costs themselves, pass them on by raising product prices, or forward them to shippers and customs brokers. Mathematically, a lot is at stake: six billion packages a year translate to up to six billion euros in flat-fee revenue – provided the charge is actually levied in full.

Why the EU is acting now

Cheap imports from China have surged in recent years. With the flat fee, the EU is responding to a volume that was barely manageable under the old customs rules. Exactly how the charge will be implemented technically and which shipments it will cover has not yet been detailed.

What stays, what remains open

The new two-euro flat fee is so far just an announcement. Whether and when it actually takes effect has not been finally decided. What is clear already: anyone who regularly orders from Shein, Temu, and AliExpress should keep an eye on prices and terms – and shouldn't be surprised if small orders suddenly become noticeably more expensive.