New EU fees on parcels from outside the bloc: shipments from China to Poland drop sharply

New charges on parcels from outside the European Union have noticeably changed shopping on Chinese platforms. Spider's Web reports this and, citing Rzeczpospolita, EU market data.

What the fees are

On 1 July 2026 a customs duty of €3 came into force for each type of item in a parcel sent from outside the EU. It is charged per product category, not per piece. Two hair ties, two phone cases and a scarf are five pieces but three categories, so the duty comes to €9. According to a UK government explanatory note on the EU rules, the duty is temporary and is meant to apply from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2028. It covers parcels worth up to €150 sent by non-EU sellers to consumers.

From 1 November 2026 a further charge was added: a handling fee of €2.

An example from a shopping basket

Spider's Web author Albert Żurek calculated what purchases cost after the changes. A phone case previously cost 8.40 zł plus 3.59 zł postage, so just under 12 zł. After the charges came in, the platform added 27.24 zł (10.91 zł handling fee and 16.33 zł duty). The amounts also include 23% VAT. For goods from two categories, import charges came to 54.42 zł (21.78 zł handling fee and 32.64 zł duty). The total was over 69 zł for products worth 11 zł.

A fall in parcel numbers

According to Rzeczpospolita, in the third quarter the number of parcels from China in the EU fell by more than 60% year on year, to 555 million. In Poland there were 1.8 million in September. At the start of the year the figure was around 4 million a month. For some groups of goods, falls reached as much as 75%. The data comes from the European Commission, based on the customs records of member states.

Allegro spokesman Marcin Gruszka said the platform sees "positive changes for the sector". Poczta Polska also notes fewer shipments from Asia. It adds that sellers are increasingly shipping goods from warehouses in Europe. According to expert Damian Siusta of Postis, AliExpress, Temu and Shein are speeding up the move of logistics to warehouses in the EU. Shein announced that in 2026 it would spend €500 million on expanding its European Logistics Centre. In Poland it plans to invest €1 billion in total.

The aim of the rules

Poland's digital affairs minister Krzysztof Gawkowski explained last year that the aim was to level the playing field. According to him, more than 4.5 billion parcels with a declared value below €150 entered the EU, 91% of them from China. The Commission estimated that as many as 65% of them might have an understated value.

What this means for you

The charges apply to parcels entering the EU, including Poland. If you live in the UK and order goods on Chinese platforms for family in Poland, expect higher costs. The EU rules do not cover purchases delivered to Great Britain. Northern Ireland has separate arrangements which, according to the UK note, limit the impact of the charges.