customs

Over the past years, the exponential growth of cross-border e-commerce has placed extraordinary pressure on European customs authorities. Millions of low-value consignments arrive daily, creating significant challenges for customs administrations that were never designed to handle such volumes. While the European Commission’s ambitious EU Customs Reform aims to provide a structural, long-term solution - notably through the EU Customs Data Hub and new models for trusted traders, the reform process remains ongoing and its benefits will only materialise gradually over the coming decade.

In the meantime, several Member States are exploring national stop-gap measures to cope with the immediate operational and budgetary pressures. Among these, the Dutch government has announced its intention to introduce an e-commerce handling fee for all parcels arriving from outside the EU from 1 January 2026, following similar initiatives in Romania, France and Belgium.

Risk of Fragmentation within the Customs Union

CLECAT, the European Association of Freight Forwarders, Logistics service providers and Customs Agents, recognises the challenges faced by national administrations but warns that uncoordinated national initiatives risk fragmenting the Customs Union, distorting competition between operators and creating unnecessary administrative burdens. This paper outlines CLECAT’s views on the implications of national e-commerce handling fees and sets out principles to ensure that, where introduced, they remain fair, transparent, and temporary measures aligned with the goals of the ongoing EU Customs Reform.

CLECAT has consistently advocated against any fragmentation of customs processes within the EU. The European Customs Union remains one of the Union’s greatest achievements, ensuring uniform treatment of goods, fair competition and a seamless internal market.  A possible growing number of national initiatives introducing or considering national e-commerce handling fees risks undermining this integrity, creating an uneven playing field between Member States and increasing administrative burdens for economic operators trading across borders. CLECAT also underlines that national initiatives must comply with Article 52 of the Union Customs Code (UCC), which restricts when Member States may levy fees for customs activities. Any national measure must respect this legal framework to safeguard the uniformity of EU customs law.

Challenges facing national customs administrations

At the same time, CLECAT recognises the difficult circumstances in which many Member States find themselves. National customs administrations have been left to manage an unprecedented surge in e-commerce imports largely without the necessary financial or human resources. The ongoing negotiations between the legislators on the EU Customs Reform, while ambitious in scope, have been marked by considerable complexity and have therefore progressed more slowly than anticipated. As a result, national administrations have been left to cope the immediate pressures of exponentially growing parcel volumes with limited tools. In this context, we fully understand that some Member States have felt compelled to introduce their own national handling fees to maintain operational capacity until the reform delivers its promised, centralised European solution.

Ensuring Fair and transparent implementation

CLECAT strongly supports the principle that customs administrations must be adequately equipped and financed to manage all import flows,  not only e-commerce. We therefore urge national governments to ensure that, should they find no other option but to introduce an e-commerce handling fee nationally, any revenue generated from these fees is fully reinvested into strengthening customs capacity, systems, and control infrastructure.

On the practical side, CLECAT stresses that implementation must be carefully planned in close consultation with trade. The collection mechanism should be designed so that both customs and economic operators’ systems can integrate and collect this new fee simultaneously with other import charges, with sufficient lead time for IT developments and testing.  If a fee is introduced, it should be simple and transparent – for instance, a flat rate per package– and strictly temporary until a harmonised EU mechanism is established

Towards a Harmonised European Approach

National legislative measures should also remain consistent with the ongoing development of the EU Customs Code and contain sunset clauses to ensure alignment once a unified European handling fee is introduced. Finally, Member States are encouraged, as far as legally possible, to coordinate and align their national schemes, accompanied by transparent communication and structured trade consultation.

In summary, CLECAT continues to advocate for a harmonised European approach, while recognising the short-term need for Member States to sustain the functionality of their customs administrations. National handling fees should be seen only as temporary, transitional measures on the path towards a coherent and well-resourced European customs system.