Juan Pellerano-Rendon, Chief Marketing Officer, Swap
On July 1, the duty-free era of European e-commerce ended. As reported by Modern Retail, every parcel entering the European Union now owes customs duty, regardless of value. Shipments under €150 carry a €3 charge per line item, and the liability lands on brands and retailers. Under the new framework, the merchant — not the customer, not the carrier — is the default legal customs debtor, responsible for duty on top of VAT.
For years, de minimis thresholds let low-value goods cross borders without duties or full customs processing. A blazer from Paris, boots from London — if the parcel sat under the buyer’s threshold, it shipped straight to the door. That model moved staggering volume: in 2024, the E.U. cleared 4.6 billion parcels under the €150 threshold. All of that flow now runs through customs, line item by line item.
The E.U. is not acting alone. The U.S. ended de minimis for Chinese imports in May 2025 and for all countries that August, and the exemption is now set to expire for good on July 1, 2027. The U.K. holds its £135 threshold through at least the end of 2026, but the direction is locked: sellers and marketplaces become the customs debtor, and full removal is expected by March 2029. Three of the largest Western markets, one structural reset. This is the new operating environment for every brand that sells cross-border.
