EU Adds Two New Cross-Border Shipment Rules from November: ?2 Customs Processing Fee and Mandatory Product Code Declaration

Starting November 1, the European Union has introduced two new requirements for cross-border shipments sent directly from outside the EU to EU consumers. For shipments valued under ?150, product code (PID) information must be provided on the customs declaration form. In addition, regardless of shipment value, the EU will impose a ?2 customs processing fee on all cross-border shipments.

These new rules follow the EU's addition of a ?3 tariff in July, further tightening customs regulations for B2C imported goods. Once effective, imported shipments valued at no more than ?150 will be subject to a ?3 tariff per product tariff category (abolishing the previous small-parcel import tax exemption), plus the additional ?2 customs processing fee, and must provide PID. Shipments valued over ?150 will also bear the ?2 customs processing fee.

Specifically, sellers need to provide the carrier with the PID for each item in the shipment to facilitate product information tracking. The PID information contained in the customs declaration falls into three categories, of which the merchant PID (M-PID) and the non-standard PID (NS-PID) are mandatory fields.

The merchant PID (M-PID) is an internal code assigned by the online seller, marketplace, or platform, such as store item numbers, SKU codes, and Amazon ASINs, primarily indicating who is selling the product; the latter is an internal code assigned by the manufacturer or supplier, such as product model numbers or part numbers, used to identify product production information. For products whose manufacturers have not yet assigned part numbers, sellers should request the manufacturer to assign one as soon as possible; if assignment is impossible, an applicable standardized PID may be used as a substitute.

The standard PID (S-PID) filing requirement is "mandatory if available," with codes including EAN, GTIN, and UPC for trade goods, and ISBN and ISSN for publications. If a product has no standard PID, sellers must declare using the exception code Y081.

Some products have special requirements for standard PID filing: handmade and artisanal goods are exempt, and healthcare products have more detailed filing requirements. Medical devices compliant with the EU Medical Device Regulation (MDR) 2017/745 and the In Vitro Diagnostic Medical Device Regulation (IVDR) 2017/746 may provide UDI-DI as the standard PID; pharmaceuticals and over-the-counter drugs compliant with EU Directive 2011/62/EU may fill in the product code "AI01.8"; traditional medical devices not yet subject to UDI-DI requirements may fill in the CELEX number "32017R0745" or "32017R0746," but this number applies only during the transition period before the 27th of this month.

Furthermore, unlike the ?3 import tariff, the ?2 customs processing fee is a permanent fee, charged based on the product categories within the parcel. The EU side believes that the processing fee should not be borne by European consumers but should be paid by platforms, retailers, sellers, and others. This view aligns with the EU's previous requirement for Delivered Duty Paid (DDP); sellers can factor this fee into product pricing in advance and display it on the product purchase and checkout pages to ensure consumers do not receive additional import duties or taxes after completing a purchase.

Currently, sellers need to focus on whether existing PID information is complete or correct and promptly supplement and improve it. Because without valid PID, cross-border orders may fail to complete EU customs clearance, and product sales permissions on platforms may also be affected.

This article was first published on the official Ebrun website.