New EU customs duties for Swiss parcels

From November 1, parcels from Switzerland will be subject to new EU customs duties. Keystone-SDA

The European Union is introducing a handling fee on parcel consignments from third countries on November 1. The new €2 (CHF1.85) fee will be levied in addition to the recently introduced €3 fee on small consignments. Swiss online shops are affected by the new charge.

Online retail, primarily via Chinese platforms such as Shein and Temu, is booming. According to figures from the European Commission, just under 5.9 billion small consignments were sent to the EU in 2025. That equates to just over 16 million items per day. This volume is putting pressure on customs authorities.

From November 1, the EU will charge a processing fee of €2 on imports. According to the EU’s decision, the platforms – and not the consumers – are responsible for paying the fee and completing the other customs formalities. Violations could result in fines of up to 6% of a company’s annual import value.

The processing fee is charged per product category rather than per item. For example, a consignment of 20 T-shirts incurs a fee of €2. For a consignment of ten T-shirts, two caps and an umbrella, the fee is €6. This calculation is based on how goods are declared at customs.

The measure is part of a wider EU customs reform due to come into force next month.

Minimal impact expected for Switzerland

The fee will be levied on all parcels imported into the EU. It applies “irrespective of the free trade agreement between Switzerland and the EU”, Swiss Post said on its website.

Patrick Erny, director of the Swiss Retail Federation, estimates the impact on the sector as a whole will be “minimal”. He attributes this to the fact that the Swiss retail sector is strongly focused on the domestic market.

“Specialised niche retailers with many direct deliveries to consumers in the EU, as well as retailers of low-cost products with low-value shopping baskets, are likely to be more significantly affected, as the charges represent a larger proportion of their turnover,” said Erny, whose association represents both brick-and-mortar and online retailers in Switzerland.

EU introduced levy in July

The new levy is being imposed in addition to the customs duty on small consignments introduced by the EU in July. The €3 levy, which has been in force since the summer, applies only to consignments with a value of up to €150 imported into the EU from third countries such as Switzerland. The levy is valid for two years and is due to expire in July 2028.

Since the levy was introduced, imports of small consignments have fallen by 64%, the French news agency AFP recently reported. However, Brussels points out that it is still too early to draw any conclusions.

Erny also says that the available Swiss foreign trade statistics do not yet allow any conclusions to be drawn about the consequences of the three-euro customs duty for the Swiss retail sector. He also considers the impact of this duty to be minimal.

Levy for Switzerland?

According to the director of the Swiss Retail Federation, the new levy reflects a challenge currently facing many countries: the rapid rise in direct imports via online marketplaces from third countries that do not comply with domestic product safety legislation. He reckons the key question is how Switzerland is addressing these same challenges.

To address this challenge, the Federal Council sent a revision of the Federal Act on Product Safety out for consultation in June this year. In its proposal, the Federal Council draws heavily on legal developments in the EU.

It believes that additional funding is required for more intensive and highly digitalised market surveillance in online trade. To this end, it should be possible to levy a supervisory fee on direct shipments from abroad.

The consultation period ended last September. As a next step, and provided the Federal Council continues to see a need for action, it will submit a dispatch on the revision to Parliament.

+ How we produce news in English
Translated from German, reviewed by an English Department journalist. 

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