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EU Customs Code Makes Platforms the Importer

Under the new Union Customs Code, marketplaces and distance sellers become the importer of record for direct-to-consumer goods — with a new per-item handling fee from 1 November.

The European Union published Regulation (EU) 2026/2108 on 19 September 2026 — a new Union Customs Code that is the most substantial overhaul of EU customs law since 1968. For anyone selling cross-border into the EU, the headline is a new legal status: the "importer for distance sales." Marketplaces and distance sellers become the importer of record for goods shipped directly from outside the EU to EU consumers, and they inherit the customs data, duties and compliance obligations that until now sat with the individual buyer.

What changed

The reform replaces the current declaration-based, nationally fragmented system with a data-driven model built around a single EU Customs Data Hub and a new EU Customs Authority based in Lille, France. The entity responsible for a distance sale — the seller, or the platform facilitating it — must provide all customs information before release, ensure payment of duties and other charges, and ensure the goods comply with EU product-safety and other non-fiscal rules. That importer must be established in the EU or represented by an EU-based indirect representative. The Commission says roughly 5.9 billion low-value items entered the EU in 2025, which is the scale this reform is aimed at. The Data Hub rolls out in stages — important steps begin in 2028, with voluntary use from 2031 and mandatory use from 2034.

The new handling fee

Separate from the transitional €3 flat duty on sub-€150 consignments in place since 1 July 2026, the Code introduces a permanent, EU-wide "Union handling fee" — a fixed amount per item. Member states must begin collecting it no later than 1 November 2026. According to a 22 September letter from the Dutch State Secretary of Finance, the European Commission adopted the delegated act setting the fee on 21 September at €2 per product category, subject to a 30-day objection window. Treat that €2 figure as provisional until it clears the window, but budget for it now.

Who is affected and what to do

This hits sellers and platforms shipping from non-EU countries — the US, China, Mexico — directly to EU consumers, which is the cross-border model this audience runs. Two practical moves. First, map which entity is the importer of record on each of your EU orders, because that is who now holds the customs data and compliance risk. Second, review your IOSS status: the new "Trust & Check Trader" tier and the distance-sales customs warehouse are only available to IOSS users, and platforms without IOSS may need to interact with several national customs authorities rather than clearing centrally through one member state. Separately, the Code adds a tiered penalty regime (Article 276) for systematic non-compliance by distance-sale operators: a penalty can lead to classification as a "high-risk economic operator" in the Data Hub and, in some cases, suspension of release across an entire import flow.

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