New handling fee to make ordering from China on average €6 more expensive per package

The Dutch government plans to introduce a handling fee for packages from outside the European Union in early January. The handling fee will make an average order from a Chinese webshop €6 more expensive, NOS reports based on a draft bill in its possession. The surcharge will apply to parcels up to €150, which are currently exempt from customs charges.

Approximately 1 million parcels worth €150 or less arrive in the Netherlands every day. Between 80 and 90 percent of them come from Chinese webshops like AliExpress, Temu, and Shein.

This enormous number of parcels from abroad has customs so busy that the agency is no longer able to perform its actual duties: inspecting cargo for safety and collecting import duties and taxes. Customs officers have to clear every single parcel, and that is gradually becoming impossible.

The handling fee will be €2 per product line in the order. Because the average parcel contains three different products, that amounts to an average cost increase of €6. With the current volume of parcels, this would generate €2 billion annually. Part of that money is intended to strengthen customs. The government also wants to use the money to protect Dutch online and brick-and-mortar stores, which are facing significant competition from China.

Courier companies like PostNL, DHL, and FedEx will have to pay the handling fee. They will almost certainly pass it on to consumers.

A large portion of these parcels enters the EU through Dutch ports and airports to be shipped to other EU countries. France, Belgium, and Luxembourg have plans to introduce their own handling fees of €2 per product in the very near future, preferably next month. The Dutch government worries that the neighboring countries implementing the handling fee would have a waterbed effect, resulting in even more packages being sent via the Netherlands, potentially over 3 million per day.

“The Dutch market will then be even more overwhelmed by a tsunami of e-commerce shipments than it is now,” NOS quoted from the bill’s explanation. “The consequences will be standing containers in the port of Rotterdam and a standstill in the transit of goods at Schiphol Airport.”

The Council of State is currently considering the bill. If it gives a positive recommendation, the Council of Ministers will discuss it. Insiders told NOS that it will be approved there without much hassle.