Small parcels: €3 tariffs on top of €2 taxes – when will this come into effect?

For small parcels from outside the EU, there will be a combination of the €3 EU tariff – which has been in force since 1 July – and the €2 Italian tax, which is due to come into effect from 1 October. This was clarified by the Minister for the Economy, Giancarlo Giorgetti, in response to a question tabled in the Chamber of Deputies by Forza Italia (led by Deborah Bergamini).

The national tax on parcels worth up to 150 euros from China and other non-EU countries has been ‘extended several times until 1 October 2026’. From that date, “should the €2 levy apply, it will be added to the tariffs introduced by EU Regulation 2026/382”, the minister emphasised.

As Giorgetti explained, these are in fact ‘two different measures’, in that ‘the application of the flat-rate tariff of 3 euros for consignments valued at up to 150 euros is intended to temporarily regulate the tax liability once the tariff exemption has been removed, which is no longer considered justified in the context of the exponential growth of e-commerce and the dispatch of low-value parcels’. The administrative fee introduced by the national legislation ‘serves, on the other hand, to offset the administrative costs that customs authorities must bear in relation to the clearance and inspection of small parcels’.

The EU tariffs of 3 euros constitute a customs-based own resource and ‘the revenue from this contribution should be distributed between the EU budget and the budgets of the Member States in the same proportion as the customs-based own resource (75%/25%), unless a different decision is adopted within the framework of the 2028–2034 multiannual financial framework’.

Please note that the tariffs, which have been in force since the start of the month, apply to all types of products. An order that includes, for example, both a hat and a jumper will incur tariffs of 6 euros (3+3).