For goods under 150 euros, a new EU tax of €3 and one from the Italian Government of €2 come into force
Starting July 1st, the online shopping for products from non-EU countries is preparing to undergo a major change. With the definitive abolition of the customs exemption introduced in 1992, small parcels with a value of less than 150 euros will no longer benefit from any exemption. In Italy, however, the measure will be even more substantial (if not a real blow) due to a temporal overlap: they will in fact come into force on the same day be the European flat rate duty of 3 euros to shipping, both the national contribution of 2 euros introduced by the last Budget Law and previously frozen. For Italian consumers the fixed overcharge will therefore be 5 euros per packagea figure on which VAT will then also be calculated.
the reasons for the small parcel tax
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Behind the squeeze of Brussels and Rome there is a clear desire to stem the explosion of Asian e-commerce and protect domestic markets from unfair competition, in particular from Chinese fast fashion and low-cost giants. The numbers of the phenomenon are, moreover, colossal: only in 2025 Italian citizens have ordered well 396 million articles from non-EU countries, and 98% of these came from Chinawith a quarter of shipments made up of clothing.
In addition to trade rebalancing, the European institutions justify the measure with safety and environmental sustainability reasonshighlighting how the enormous amount of low-cost goods frequently introduces non-compliant products onto the single marketwith serious health risks and intellectual property violations.
protests from the transport sector
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However, the business world and the transport sector are very against it and are loudly asking the Minister of Economy, Giancarlo Giorgetti, a step back immediate, at least on the national quota of 2 euros. According to estimates by Confetra (Italian General Confederation of Transport and Logistics), the “3+2 model” will end up causing a 50% collapse of freight traffic in Italyalso translating into a reduction in revenueas the State would risk losing millions of euros.
The real danger is that the large international couriers decide to bypass the Italian airports, preferably land in Northern European hubs such as Germany or the Netherlands to carry out customs clearance at lower costs, and then transport the goods to Italy by truck, thus penalizing the entire logistics economy of the country.
La Gazzetta dello Sport
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