Regulation (EU) 2026/382 removes the 150 euro customs relief for low-value consignments.

The Regulation adopted by the Council

EUR-Lex identifies Council Regulation (EU) 2026/382 as an act of the Council of the European Union adopted on 11 February 2026 . The title of the act states that it amends Regulation (EC) No 1186/2009 as regards the removal of customs duty relief based on a threshold .

The EUR-Lex record refers to document 32026R0382 and the ELI http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2026/382/oj . The Regulation was published in the Official Journal of the European Union, L series, under reference OJ L 2026/382 on 18 February 2026 .

The preamble refers to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and cites Article 31 TFEU as the legal basis . The EUR-Lex record indicates that Council Regulation (EU) 2026/382 is in force .

The 150 euro threshold targeted by the text

Council Regulation (EU) 2026/382, dated 11 February 2026 and published in the OJ on 18 February 2026, sets out the existing relief before its removal in Regulation (EC) No 1186/2009 . Recital 1 refers to Chapter V of Title II of Regulation (EC) No 1186/2009, which provides for relief from import duties for goods sent directly from a third country to a consignee in the Union .

That relief covers consignments whose total intrinsic value does not exceed 150 euro . The Regulation describes this mechanism as "threshold-based relief" in its English version published on EUR-Lex . The scope recalled in Recital 1 is limited to consignments imported from a third country to a consignee located in the Union .

The Regulation states that this 150 euro customs relief had been maintained after the abolition, on 1 July 2021, of the import VAT exemption applicable to goods with a value not exceeding 22 euro .

InternetRetailing states that the European Union's de minimis rules will change from 1 July 2026 . The site reports the removal of the customs duty exception for low-value consignments linked to the 150 euro threshold, and says it will be replaced by a flat-rate charge of 3 euro .

InternetRetailing links this presentation to very low-value flows from e-commerce platforms . The EUR-Lex extract relating to Regulation (EU) 2026/382 identifies a Council Regulation amending Regulation (EC) No 1186/2009 as regards the removal of customs duty relief based on a threshold . The Regulation is dated 11 February 2026 in that extract .

The same EUR-Lex extract indicates publication in the Official Journal on 18 February 2026 . The EUR-Lex record presents document 32026R0382 as being in force . It reproduces the title, publication references and recitals, without reproducing the full operative provisions in the file .

Import VAT and the reasons cited

In the recitals to Regulation (EU) 2026/382 of 11 February 2026, the Council recalls that Chapter V of Title II of Regulation (EC) No 1186/2009 provided relief from import duties for goods dispatched directly from a third country to a consignee in the Union where the total intrinsic value of the consignment did not exceed 150 euro .

The same recital states that, until 1 July 2021, the importation of goods with a value not exceeding 22 euro also benefited from an import VAT exemption . The Council states that Directive (EU) 2017/2455 removed that exemption for low-value goods, while the customs relief below 150 euro had been maintained .

The Council links this development to the increase in the volume of low-value imports following the growth of e-commerce and the associated facilitations . It states that maintaining the customs relief left open the possibility of systematic abuse of the threshold through undervaluation and the artificial splitting of consignments .

The limits of the available file

The EUR-Lex extract of Regulation (EU) 2026/382 available in the file is in English and refers to document 32026R0382, published in OJ L 2026/382 on 18 February 2026 . The same extract indicates multilingual display and an ELI, http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2026/382/oj . The InternetRetailing source included in the file does not provide a publication date . The file does not reproduce the full operative text of the Regulation, as the EUR-Lex extract stops in the recitals .