Commission: customs handling fee becomes own resource, states keep revenue to 2027

The European Commission has stated that the new Union handling fee on parcels sold in distance sales will become a traditional own resource of the EU budget, while under its proposal for the next Own Resources Decision Member States would keep the revenue until the end of 2027. The statement was published in the Official Journal of the European Union, C series, of 19 September 2026 under reference C/2026/4922.

The fee itself is created by Regulation (EU) 2026/2108 of 16 September 2026, which establishes the new Union Customs Code and the EU Customs Authority and repeals Regulation (EU) No 952/2013. Under Article 20 of that regulation, customs authorities collect a Union handling fee of a fixed amount per item for handling a request to place goods under the release for free circulation procedure where those goods are sold in distance sales. The amount must correspond to the approximate cost of the services, including data checks, risk analysis, infrastructure and controls, and a lower fee applies to goods released from a customs warehouse for distance sales.

The Commission’s statement addresses where that money goes. It notes that the fee is an amount established by the institutions of the Union in respect of trade with third countries, which makes it a traditional own resource (TOR) within the meaning of Article 2(1)(a) of Council Decision (EU, Euratom) 2020/2053 of 14 December 2020 on the system of own resources of the European Union.

A traditional own resource, with a temporary carve-out

Under the Own Resources Decision currently in force, Member States retain 25 % of traditional own resources and the remainder is EU budget revenue. The Commission’s proposal for the next decision, COM/2025/574 final, would change that temporarily: Article 13(9) introduces a transitory measure under which the handling fee would not be made available to the Union budget until the end of the current multiannual financial framework. If that provision is agreed, Member States would be the beneficiaries of the revenue generated by the fee until the end of 2027.

The window runs from November 2026 to December 2027

The draft provision quoted in the statement covers the period between 1 November 2026 and 31 December 2027, during which amounts of traditional own resources linked to the handling of the release for free circulation of goods sold in distance sales would not be made available, and the rules on controls, supervision and reporting would not apply to those amounts. The details of implementing the arrangement are to be laid down in the Making Available Regulation proposal. Until the provision is agreed by the Member States and enters into force, the Own Resources Decision currently in force applies.

A tight calendar for the fee and the customs code

• The Commission must adopt the delegated act setting the amount of the fee by 29 September 2026.
• Article 20(2), which creates the fee, applies from 10 days after that delegated act enters into force.
• Regulation (EU) 2026/2108 enters into force the day after publication and applies from 21 September 2027, with the lower warehouse fee under Article 20(4) applying from 1 July 2028.
• The EU Customs Authority will be seated in Lille, France.

The statement puts national finance ministries on notice: the fee will be collected by customs authorities from the debtor of the customs debt, at least once a month, and will be non-refundable, but the cash stays in national coffers only if Member States agree the new Own Resources Decision quickly. The Commission says it is therefore in the clear interest of Member States to reach that agreement as soon as possible, since under the rules in force the revenue would otherwise flow to the EU budget.

Source: Official Journal of the European Union, C series, C/2026/4922, 19 September 2026, notices (official reference: C/2026/4922).