EU or Not

EU commerce regulation timeline

Dated milestones for cross-border commerce into the EU, 2021 to 2034. Past entries greyed, upcoming in blue.

  1. 1 July 2021

    VAT e-commerce package

    Import VAT due on every consignment; the €22 VAT relief disappears. IOSS introduced for low-value distance sales.

  2. 17 May 2023

    Customs reform proposed

    Commission proposes the EU Customs Authority, the Customs Data Hub and the deemed-importer regime for platforms.

  3. 11 February 2025

    PPWR enters into force

    Regulation (EU) 2025/40 published 22 January 2025, in force 11 February, applicable eighteen months later.

  4. 13 November 2025

    €150 duty relief scheduled for removal

    Commission confirms the low-value duty exemption ends in 2026, ahead of the Data Hub.

  5. 10 December 2025

    Commission proposes suspending the EPR representative rule

    COM(2025) 982 would suspend Article 45(3) PPWR until 2035 for producers established in the EU. Third-country producers unaffected. Read more.

  6. 11 February 2026

    Council green-lights small-parcel duty rules

    Final agreement on the transitional treatment of low-value consignments.

  7. 26 March 2026

    Council and Parliament agree the customs reform

    Handling fee on distance-sale parcels, platforms as deemed importer, and a Data Hub calendar that ends in 2034 rather than 2038. Read more.

  8. 1 July 2026

    Flat duty applies

    €3 per item on low-value imports; the merchant becomes customs debtor by default. Read more.

  9. 12 August 2026

    PPWR applies

    Producer registration and an authorised representative required per destination member state. Read more.

  10. You are here

    Everything above applies today. Everything below is scheduled, and the dates further out move more often than the near ones.

  11. 5 October 2026 — unconfirmed

    First-reading plenary on the EPR representative suspension

    Indicative date only, and ENVI has not voted its position. The draft report would limit the exemption to micro and small enterprises and keep the mandate for third-country producers. Read more.

  12. By 1 November 2026 — unconfirmed

    Handling fee applies to distance-sale parcels

    Agreed on 26 March 2026, applied by member states no later than this date. The level is left to a Commission delegated act and is not yet set; about €2 is trade expectation, not law. Read more.

  13. 31 December 2026

    UK £135 relief holds until this date

    Full removal signalled for later this decade; data, fiscal representation and fees undefined.

  14. 2028

    EU Customs Data Hub opens for e-commerce

    Platforms act as deemed importers. One EU data layer replaces 27 national declaration systems. Read more.

  15. 1 July 2028

    Single VAT registration takes effect

    OSS extends to domestic B2C supplies, a new scheme covers transfers of own goods, and the reverse charge becomes mandatory where the customer is VAT-identified locally. Read more.

  16. 1 July 2028

    Transitional flat duty expires

    Normal tariff treatment intended to apply through the Data Hub.

  17. 30 June 2029

    Call-off stock ceases to apply

    No goods may enter a call-off stock arrangement after 30 June 2028; Article 17a stops applying entirely a year later. Read more.

  18. 1 July 2030

    Digital reporting for cross-border B2B

    E-invoicing becomes the default for intra-EU business-to-business supplies under ViDA. Read more.

  19. 2031

    Data Hub opens to all traders

    Voluntary use beyond e-commerce. The agreed reform moved this forward from the 2032 in the 2023 proposal. Read more.

  20. 2034

    Data Hub becomes mandatory

    All traders, all flows, as the single entry point. The 2023 proposal said 1 January 2038; the text agreed in March 2026 brought it forward by four years. Read more.

Entries marked unconfirmed rest on secondary reporting or on files still in trilogue. Everything else is traceable to a Commission, Council or Official Journal source listed in the linked article.