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Why Europe needs a meaningful handling fee on ultra-fast-fashion imports
Paris, 01/09/2026 – The introduction of the €3 customs duty on low-value imports marks an important milestone in Europe’s efforts to address the challenges created by the rapid growth of ultra-fast-fashion imports. Together with the abolition of the €150 customs duty exemption, it demonstrates that policymakers are willing to act when market distortions become impossible to ignore. But this should be seen as a first step, not the final destination.
Today, at Premiere Vision, the European textile and apparel industry reinforced the belief the European Union must now introduce a meaningful handling fee that reflects the real costs generated by billions of direct-to-consumer parcels entering the Single Market every year. A fee in the region of €10 per parcel provides a more realistic indication of the scale required to support effective enforcement.
Every parcel entering the EU generates costs. Customs authorities must process declarations, conduct risk assessments and verify compliance. Market surveillance authorities need resources to identify unsafe and non-compliant goods. Product safety checks, logistics handling and enforcement activities all carry a price. Today, a significant portion of these costs is borne by taxpayers and by European companies that already comply with the rules.
This is why the debate should not focus solely on trade or taxation. The issue is enforcement. A handling fee should be designed to ensure that those generating these costs contribute to covering them. For that reason, the revenues should be directly linked to strengthening customs controls, market surveillance, product safety enforcement and risk-analysis capabilities across the European Union.
The levels currently being discussed, generally between €2 and €4 per parcel, are unlikely to make a meaningful co
