The European Commission has issued revised guidance on the €3 temporary customs duty and the €2 Union Handling Fee (UHF) as outlined in the document below.

For clarity, the guidance concerns distance sales of imported goods to EU consumers (B2C). It does not concern goods that have already been released for free circulation in the EU and are subsequently sold through ordinary retail or e-commerce channels. We would highlight three points.

1. Sales from customs warehouses – Section 4.2

The revised guidance is clearer on goods sold while already stored in a customs warehouse. The Commission states that it is amending Article 201(e) UCC-DA so that such sales will become subject to the relevant import duties and the UHF, and that this treatment will apply once the amendment applies.

Our reading is therefore that, under the current framework, genuine inventory placed in an EU customs warehouse before the consumer sale should not yet be caught by the €3 duty or UHF. This differs from goods already sold to EU consumers before entering the warehouse, which are within scope. The Commission is, however, actively working to change this position.

Accordingly, once the amended Article 201(e) UCC-DA applies, goods that are dispatched to Union consumers from a customs warehouse:

• Where they are in consignments valued up to EUR 150, they are subject to the temporary EUR 3 duty per item and to the UHF;
• Where they are in consignments valued above EUR 150, they are subject to the duty calculated based on their origin, tariff classification, and value, and to the UHF;

‍

2. VAT treatment of the UHF – Section 9.2

The Commission has changed the position set out in its earlier VAT guidance on the UHF. The updated guidance states that the UHF should be treated as an incidental expense to the supply and included in the VAT taxable amount. In practice, VAT will therefore also apply to the €2 UHF where the fee applies.

3. Product identifiers – Sections 8.1–8.8

From 1 November 2026, new product identifier requirements apply to low-value distance sales of imported goods. The guidance requires, in principle, a merchant product identifier (M-PID), a non-standardised manufacturer product identifier (NS-PID), and a standardised identifier where one exists.

This may have operational implications where non-EU SKUs do not currently contain the required data. The guidance indicates that where no NS-PID exists, one is expected to be assigned, while the declarant remains responsible for providing complete and accurate information to customs.

There may still be practical questions around how missing or incorrect identifiers will be treated in practice, including correction, rejection and enforcement.