European Commission updates customs-declaration data for €3 duty on distance sales ≤ €150
Online marketplaces, sellers and postal operators must supply new declarant details and item-level product identifiers on ≤€150 distance-sales consignments so customs can collect the €3 per-item duty
Change
On 30 June 2026 the European Commission adopted Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/1022, amending Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446 to redefine 'goods in postal consignment', require item-level merchant and manufacturer product identifiers in the H1/H6/H7 datasets, and revise declarant rules so as to enable collection of the temporary €3 per-item customs duty on distance-sales consignments of intrinsic value not exceeding €150; it applies from 1 July 2026, with the product-identifier data elements mandatory from 1 November 2026.
Why it matters
Following the abolition of the low-value consignment duty relief by Council Regulation (EU) 2026/382, this Regulation supplies the customs-declaration machinery for the temporary €3 per-item duty. Declarations for ≤€150 distance-sales consignments must carry the specified merchant and manufacturer product identifiers for each item in the H1/H6/H7 data columns and use the revised declarant hierarchy, placing primary duty-payment responsibility on platforms, sellers or the declaring carrier/agent rather than the consumer. Member State customs systems must accept the renamed ENS columns and the additional supporting-document data elements to process the reduced H6/H7 datasets. Postal operators must supply entry-summary particulars to carriers or, where a third-country postal operator fails to make them available, to the customs office of first entry.
Implications
- — Online marketplaces and sellers offering distance sales of imported goods in ≤€150 consignments must act as the declarant (or appoint an indirect representative) and provide the merchant and manufacturer product identifiers for each item in H1/H6/H7 declarations — the revised declarant rules place primary €3 duty-payment responsibility on them, and omitting the identifiers makes the declaration non-compliant with the amended Annex B data requirements.
- — Postal operators must provide the entry-summary particulars for goods conveyed under their responsibility to the carrier lodging the rest of the declaration, and where a third-country postal operator fails to make them available, the postal operator of destination or of first entry must supply them to the customs office of first entry under Article 127(6) — missing particulars leave that operator carrying the obligation.
- — Member State customs IT and declaration-processing teams must implement the amended H1/H6/H7 data elements, the renamed ENS columns, and the item-level product-identifier fields in Annex B by 1 November 2026 (voluntary from 1 July 2026) — without the changes, customs cannot receive the required reduced-dataset declarations for ≤€150 distance-sales consignments.
Who is affected
- — Online marketplaces and sellers offering distance sales of imported goods into the EU
- — Postal operators and declaring carriers/customs agents
- — Member State customs IT and customs-declaration teams
What to watch
- — 1 July 2026 — the Regulation applies and the temporary €3 per-item duty regime takes effect.
- — 1 November 2026 — the item-level product-identifier data elements become mandatory (voluntary from 1 July 2026).