Last year, a total of 5.8 billion shipments arrived in the EU – four times more than in 2022. Almost all of them come from China, mainly via Temu, Shein or AliExpress, Chinese online marketplaces with low prices.
“It exceeds our capacities significantly, even dramatically, and this applies to all customs administrations in the union,” said Richard Zeman, spokesman for the Customs Administration. While in 2023, roughly three million low-value shipments arrived in the Czech Republic, last year it was already 105 million. “This year, this number may be roughly doubled,” warned Zeman.
New European rules will fundamentally change the way people buy cheap goods from Asia. The Union cancels the previous exception, according to which shipments from countries outside the EU up to a value of 150 euros, i.e. roughly 3750 crowns, were not subject to customs duty. It was this border that made possible a massive boom in cheap orders, which flowed into Europe in billions of pieces per year.
The EU states see the change as necessary – although there are more controls, the volume of shipments is growing much faster. Customs officers manage to check only eight pieces out of every hundred thousand. At the same time, the French Office for Consumer Protection found that up to 75 percent of the tested products from online markets do not meet the regulations and almost half of them are dangerous.
There is also a problem with fraud during customs procedures. Part of the merchants deliberately state a lower value of the goods so that the shipment remains below the threshold of 150 euros and avoids customs duties and value added tax. Out of a total of 3,312 shipments checked during a more detailed examination, the Czech customs officials caught an error in the customs declaration in an average of one in three.
Duty from July
From July 2026, shipments with a value of less than 150 euros will be subject to customs duty – not a flat rate per package, but three euros, i.e. roughly 75 crowns, for each category of goods in the shipment. A customer who orders a t-shirt, headphones and decorations will pay nine euros, or roughly 225 crowns, for customs duty.
“The introduction of a flat-rate duty for each item in the basket fundamentally changes the mathematics of purchases from Asia,” said David Chmelař, director of Heureka Group, operator of the leading Czech comparison of goods. “For small items, such as mobile phone covers or accessories, the price can increase by hundreds of percent.”
The Customs Administration expects that after the customs duty is launched, there will be a temporary decrease in the number of shipments to the Czech Republic. Customs changes had a similar effect in the past, but they only worked for a short time and after a year the volumes returned to their original level.
Heureka welcomes the change as a leveling of conditions. “Domestic e-shops must meet strict EU standards for safety, recycling and consumer protection. We see the cancellation of the exemption from customs duties as a step towards fair competition,” added Chmelař.
Shipping fee
From November 2026, there will be a separate fee for processing the shipment, estimated at approximately two euros. In addition, the agreement of the EU Council and the European Parliament from March 2026 shifts the responsibility for customs formalities from the end customer to e-commerce platforms. You will have to ensure the correct customs declaration before sending the goods to Europe.
The establishment of a centralized EU Customs Data Hub digital platform with the use of artificial intelligence, which will analyze the risks of shipments before they enter the Union, will also be essential. “The customs systems of all 27 member states will be unified here and a central interface for submitting customs declarations will be created,” described Zeman. The system will only start in 2028, physical checks will remain at national workplaces.
The platforms themselves are also preparing for changes. “We plan to introduce a model in which Temu will act as a seller and importer of goods, thereby taking responsibility for the products,” said Leonard Klenner from Temu’s management at a hearing in the European Parliament. At the same time, the company claims that it has expanded physical controls and laboratory testing of products before sending them to the EU.
Mission to Beijing
A few weeks ago, the European Parliament sent a nine-member delegation of the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee to Beijing and Shanghai – the first parliamentary mission to China in eight years. The representatives of the parliament met with the Chinese authorities and the management of large platforms.
The head of the delegation, German MEP Anna Cavazzini, explained the reason for the trip. “We want to convey that it is absolutely essential that the internal market is not flooded with dumped products from China,” she said.
Beijing recently published new strategic guidelines for e-commerce platforms, pledging greater harmonization with international rules and strengthening checks on goods before they are sent abroad.
