Customs duty introduced on July 1 has already sharply cut volumes, he said.
The European Commission set the fee, which member states will collect per item on a customs declaration. It applies to parcels sent from non-EU countries to consumers in the bloc and is meant to help pay for risk analysis, inspection and customs handling amid booming e-commerce.
It will be collected like the temporary duty of EUR 3 per item that replaced an exemption for parcels worth less than EUR 150.
“The EU handling fee will probably further reduce the inflow of parcels, but will bring additional payments to the budget”, said Łoboda, a deputy finance minister who heads the National Revenue Administration (KAS).
Parcel numbers fall
Commission data show business-to-consumer imports of parcels with goods worth up to EUR 150 have fallen by almost 50% in countries where they were highest, including the Netherlands and Belgium, he said.
In Poland, declarations for such parcels have dropped by about 50% since July, and the number of individual items by as much as 75%. The decline continued in September, though less sharply.
Poland cleared more than 26 million parcels from outside the EU in 2025, containing almost 130 million items, according to KAS data.
Loboda said the budget gains from scrapping the exemption despite lower volumes.
New customs code
The fee comes under the EU’s new Customs Code, which took effect on Sept. 20. Most of its provisions will apply from Sept. 21, 2027, with the full reform to be implemented by 2034.
For online shoppers, more customs obligations will shift to sellers and sales platforms, which will be responsible for passing data to authorities, settling payments and ensuring goods meet EU requirements.
“The aim of these changes is to increase the transparency of the purchasing process, tighten VAT and customs collection systems, improve consumer safety and more effectively detect dangerous goods, goods that do not comply with EU rules or that infringe intellectual property rights”, Łoboda said.
(jh)
Source: PAP