9 April 2026
Italy postpones the handling fee on low-value imports to July 2026
Following the Ministry of Economy and Finance press release of 12 March 2026, the Italian Customs Authority announced that the accounting and collection activities relating to the Euro 2 contribution on consignments with a declared value not exceeding Euro 150 will start only from 1 July 2026.
The measure, originally introduced by the 2026 Budget Law and initially scheduled to apply from 1 January 2026, concerns low-value imports from non-EU countries, regardless of whether the underlying transaction is B2C, B2B or C2C. As already highlighted by the Assonime with Circular Letter No. 2/2026, the Italian charge has raised significant interpretative and practical issues, including uncertainties over its legal nature, the lack of full coordination with EU customs rules, and the risk of overlap with the new EU-wide Euro 3 charge on low-value consignments expected to apply from 1 July 2026.
The postponement appears to pursue the policy objective of avoiding immediate market distortions while the Italian framework is being reconsidered in light of the upcoming EU regime. Assonime had already noted that the national measure could divert customs flows to other Member States and impose disproportionate burdens on e-commerce and logistics operators importing into Italy.
In this context, it cannot be excluded that the Italian handling fee may ultimately be repealed in the interest of greater alignment with the other EU Member States.
Key takeaway
Businesses importing low-value goods into Italy should use the postponement period to reassess their customs and logistics set-up ahead of 1 July 2026. In particular, e-commerce platforms, retailers and express operators should monitor the expected legislative amendment in Italy and carefully assess how the domestic Euro 2 fee, if ultimately implemented, could interact with the EU Euro 3 levy due to apply from the same date. Contractual allocation of import costs, customs declaration flows and route-to-market models should therefore be reviewed in advance.