Inside the Union
Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Poland and the rest share one customs frontier and one set of import rules. Clear a shipment into any of them and it moves freely to the others.
Europe
Shipping to Europe from the United States
Two rules decide most of what a European shipment costs the person receiving it, and neither is set by a carrier. The European Union began charging a flat three euro an item on low-value consignments on 1 July 2026, and the old small-parcel tax exemption has been gone since 2021, so tax is due from the first cent. What follows is those two rules, the countries they do not cover, and the postal ceilings that differ between neighbors.
EU rules, datedPer-country ceilingsCrossing priced by a person
One continent, three regimes
A customs union, a country that left it, and two that were never in it. The paperwork differs at every seam.
The three-euro line, and what it replaced
Until the end of June 2026 a consignment worth less than 150 euro entered the European Union free of customs duty. That exemption is gone. In its place sits a flat charge introduced by Council Regulation (EU) 2026/382, with the implementing amendments adopted on 30 April 2026 and published on 8 June 2026.
| Question the charge raises | What the Commission publishes |
|---|---|
| How much | 3 euro, described as a fixed duty applied per item and not per parcel |
| On what | Consignments with an intrinsic value up to 150 euro that are distance sales of imported goods, meaning online purchases from a seller outside the Union |
| Since when | 1 July 2026 |
| Until when | 1 July 2028, after which ordinary duty rates by commodity return |
| Does the VAT route change it | No. It applies regardless of the VAT scheme used to collect the tax |
| Who it falls on | The Commission states the charge is a duty on the goods and “not a tax on consumers”, but somebody in the chain settles it before delivery |
Per item rather than per parcel is the phrase to read twice. A single box holding four separately ordered goods attracts the charge four times, so consolidating an order into one shipment saves postage and saves nothing here.
One line of that table decides whether it touches you at all. A distance sale is a seller shipping to a buyer. A private person mailing a birthday parcel to a cousin in Milan is not making one, and the flat duty is not written for that case.
Tax starts at the first cent
The other rule is five years old and still surprises American senders, because the United States spent those same years running a de minimis threshold of several hundred dollars. The European exemption for consignments below 22 euro was abolished on 1 July 2021. There is no small-parcel allowance underneath it.
Two routes exist to collect the tax on consignments up to 150 euro. The Import One Stop Shop lets a seller register once, charge the buyer's national rate at checkout and remit it, so the parcel clears without a demand at the door. The special arrangements route leaves the declarant — usually the postal operator or the courier — to collect from the recipient on delivery, which is where the handling charge on top of the tax comes from. Sellers choose between them; a private sender has neither, and the recipient pays on arrival.
Above 150 euro the simplified regimes stop and the consignment clears on ordinary rules: duty at the rate its commodity code carries, tax on the duty-inclusive value, and a full import declaration.
Europe is three regimes wearing one word
A checklist written for one European country is wrong for the next one along, and the reason is not bureaucratic fussiness. The continent contains a customs union, a country that left it, and countries that were never in it.
The United Kingdom
Out since 2020, with its own thresholds and its own tax registration rules for overseas sellers. Our page on Canada, Mexico and the United Kingdom carries the British figures.
Neither
Switzerland and Norway sit in Europe and outside the Union's customs and tax territory. Their own thresholds apply, and a parcel crossing from an EU state into either one clears customs again.
The postal side splits the same way. There is no European country listing. The Postal Service publishes one per country, and neighboring members of the same customs union do not agree with each other about what may be mailed or how heavy a parcel may be.
Two neighbors, four disagreements
Germany and Italy are both founding members of the same union and both take the three-euro duty on the same terms. Their postal listings still contradict each other on the things a sender actually has to decide.
| What a sender decides | Germany | Italy |
|---|---|---|
| Priority Mail International weight ceiling | 70 lb | 66 lb |
| Airmail M-bags, the cheap route for a box of books | Not available | Available, 66 lb |
| Jewelry and other valuables | Insured parcels declared above USD 500 are refused and returned to sender | Mailable only when enclosed in an insured Priority Mail International parcel |
| Roasted or ground coffee | No entry on the listing | Prohibited |
The valuables row is the one worth staring at. One country will only accept a bracelet inside an insured parcel; the other refuses insured parcels once the declared value passes a line that a bracelet clears easily. Follow the wrong listing and the shipment is returned by whichever rule you ignored. The German page and the Italian page carry each list in full.
What is running, and what quietly is not
Of the thirteen destinations the Postal Service lists with all international mail services suspended on 2026-08-07, one is in Europe: Belarus, suspended since 22 July 2022 for want of transportation. No member state of the Union appears on that list, and neither does Switzerland, Norway or the United Kingdom.
A quieter entry on the same page matters more to anyone paying for speed. The delivery commitment attached to Priority Mail Express International has been listed as suspended to Great Britain, Sweden and Switzerland since 25 October 2021, alongside Israel, New Zealand and Singapore. The product still moves. What has been withdrawn is the promise about the day it arrives, and the remedy that went with it.
The fastest postal product of all, “Global Express Guaranteed”, has been listed as suspended to European destinations since 29 September 2024. Anyone working from a checklist written before that date is planning around a service that has not existed for nearly two years.
Where the price comes from
Checkout here produces United States domestic parcel labels, so a European leg is not something this site sells and no European price appears on this page. That is worth stating before anything else, because a European figure printed here would be one nobody at this end could stand behind.
Anything moving inside the United States prices in seconds through the calculator. For a European shipment, send the carton dimensions, the weight, the contents and the destination country through freight review, and a person works out the product, the paperwork and the cost by hand. Do the customs arithmetic first: the three-euro charge and the tax on the declared value change what the shipment is worth doing at all.
Common questions
What is the 3 euro charge on parcels to the EU?
A flat customs duty of 3 euro per item on consignments worth up to 150 euro that are distance sales from outside the Union. It started on 1 July 2026 under Council Regulation (EU) 2026/382 and is temporary, running until 1 July 2028.
Is there still a duty-free threshold into the European Union?
Not for low-value distance sales. The duty exemption below 150 euro was replaced on 1 July 2026 by the flat per-item charge, and consignments above 150 euro clear at the ordinary duty rate for their commodity code.
Does a recipient in Europe pay tax on a small parcel?
Yes. The exemption for consignments below 22 euro was abolished on 1 July 2021, so value added tax is due from the first cent. Whether it is billed at the door depends on whether the seller collected it at checkout through the Import One Stop Shop.
Do the same rules cover all of Europe?
No. EU member states share one customs frontier, the United Kingdom left it in 2020 with its own thresholds, and Switzerland and Norway were never inside it. The postal rules differ country by country as well, since there is no European country listing.
Is mail to any European country suspended?
Belarus is the one European destination on the Postal Service list of countries with all international mail services suspended. Separately, the delivery commitment on Priority Mail Express International is listed as suspended to Great Britain, Sweden and Switzerland.
Where these rules come from
- European Commission, Taxation and Customs Union, guidance and legal text on the temporary flat fee on low-value imports — the 3 euro amount, the per-item basis, the 150 euro ceiling, the start and end dates and Council Regulation (EU) 2026/382. Read 2026-08-07.
- European Commission, Taxation and Customs Union, customs formalities for low value consignments — the abolition of the 22 euro tax exemption on 1 July 2021, the Import One Stop Shop and the special arrangements. Read 2026-08-07.
- USPS, International Service Alerts — Belarus among the suspended destinations, plus the withdrawn delivery commitment on Priority Mail Express International to Great Britain, Sweden and Switzerland. Read 2026-08-07.
- USPS, Individual Country Listings for Germany and Italy — the four points of difference in the comparison table. Both read 2026-08-07.
Union law on low-value imports has moved twice in five years and the flat charge above is written to expire in 2028. Everything here reflects the pages as they stood on 2026-08-07, and a shipment planned months out deserves a fresh look at them.