Italy’s small-parcel fee backfires, prompting calls for EU alignment

A new Italian levy on low-value parcels arriving from outside the EU is fast becoming a test case for the limits of unilateral action in an integrated single market.

Introduced with the 2026 budget, the so-called handling fee applies a €2 charge to extra-EU parcels valued at up to €150. The measure was designed to curb the surge of low-cost e-commerce imports — particularly fast-fashion goods — and to shield Italian manufacturers and consumers ahead of broader EU reforms. 

Instead, it has triggered a political dispute in Rome and mounting pressure from the logistics sector, as evidence emerges that the tax is being widely circumvented.

Adolfo Urso, Italy’s minister for enterprises and Made in Italy, has defended the levy as a necessary corrective to what he describes as unfair competition from extra-European platforms, warning that retreating now would send the wrong signal. 

Finance Minister, Giancarlo Giorgetti, has struck a more cautious note, acknowledging that adjustments may be required to bring the measure into line with EU law and market realities.

A Policy Ahead of Its Time

Italy is currently the only EU Member State to impose a national handling fee on low-value extra-EU parcels. 

That early move was intended to anticipate forthcoming EU-level action, including the planned reintroduction of customs duties on small parcels and the eventual abolition of the long-standing €150 de minimis exemption.

In practice, the Italian measure has struggled to achieve its objectives. Industry data from customs authorities show a sharp 36% drop in low-value parcels arriving directly from non-EU countries in the first weeks of 2026. 

The decline, however, does not reflect reduced demand. Instead, shipments are being rerouted through other EU airports or logistics hubs, entering Italy later by road or rail and thereby avoiding the fee altogether.

The consequences are threefold: reduced activity for Italian airports and logistics operators, no revenue for the state, and longer delivery times for consumers.

Logistics sector pushes back

Airports and freight operators say the impact has been immediate. Cargo flights from Asia and other extra-EU markets are increasingly landing in Paris, Frankfurt, Cologne, Liège, Budapest and other European hubs, bypassing Italy altogether.

Valentina Menin, a director at Assaeroporti, which represents Italian airports, said the sector is already seeing a loss of volumes as flows are redirected elsewhere. 

Alessandro Albertini, president of ANAMA, the association of air freight forwarders, warned that unilateral measures distort logistics routes inside the single market and undermine competitiveness. 

He has called for Italy to suspend or amend the fee and move in step with EU-wide rules.

A narrow window for change

At the European level, finance ministers have already agreed to reintroduce a €3 customs duty on low-value parcels from July 2026, with a broader EU handling fee expected later in the decade. 

Under the agreed framework, revenues would be split between Brussels and national authorities, with 75% flowing to the EU budget and 25% retained by the country clearing the parcel. 

That would translate into roughly €0.75 per shipment, a modest sum but one that is predictable, enforceable and legally harmonised across the single market.