EU plans new fee on Temu parcels from November

The European Union is preparing a new handling fee of 2 to 4 euros on low cost goods ordered from outside the bloc, Yle reports. The fee is expected to take effect on November 1, alongside a 3 euro customs charge already imposed on such shipments.

The European Commission is expected to submit its proposal to the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union next week. The final amount of the handling fee will be set in the proposal.

Ismo Mäenpää, a senior government adviser in the Customs Unit of Finland’s Ministry of Finance, said the fee would probably be between 2 and 4 euros. Antti Hästbacka, a senior customs inspector who participated in the preparations as Finland’s representative, also expects the proposal to take effect in November.

For consumers, the additional charges could significantly increase the price of cheap goods ordered from China. A product that cost 5 euros in June could cost about 10 euros from November once the customs and handling charges are added.

A 3 euro customs charge introduced in July for all online purchases worth less than 150 euros has already sharply reduced the number of low cost import shipments. In July 2026, there were 78 percent fewer such shipments from outside the EU than in July 2025.

Complete figures on the total value of the shipments will be available later in the autumn, once Finnish Customs has analysed the EU statistics. Hästbacka said the average value of a shipment had doubled from 5 euros to 10 euros, partly because buyers were combining shipments and partly because they were ordering more at once to avoid paying the 3 euro charge multiple times.

Some demand appears to have shifted to Finnish online stores. The number of domestic online shopping parcels increased by 22.6 percent in January to June 2026 compared with the same period a year earlier, while imported parcels increased by 10.6 percent.

Domestic parcels accounted for 59.7 percent of all online shopping parcels during the first half of the year. Finland received 36.4 million online shopping parcels, 17.5 percent more than a year earlier.

Veli Pekka Ääri, commercial director at Finnish discount retailer Tokmanni, said the decline in purchases from outside the EU had had a positive effect on the company’s sales. However, he estimated that only part of the demand had moved to Finnish and European markets.

The figures are based on parcel volumes recorded by Posti, Matkahuolto, DSV and DB Schenker, PostNord and Budbee. Finnish online stores sent almost 900,000 parcels to consumers abroad during the first half of 2026, an increase of 22.8 percent from the previous year.