Updated as of 9 November 2026. General information, not legal advice. Every rule below comes from Service Public, La Poste and French customs pages, listed in post 8.
This thread answers a question that comes up often: what is added to a parcel arriving in France from outside the EU, and who asks for it? It separates the French small-parcel tax (suspended), the EU flat duty of €3, the EU handling fee of €2 and what the carrier bills. For the detail of the €3 duty, see the thread on the EU duty of €3 per type of goods; for counterfeiting, Counterfeits and customs in France and Belgium.
[[PHOTO: schéma d’un avis de passage de colis international avec quatre lignes repérées en couleur : TVA, droit de douane forfaitaire, frais de traitement européens, frais de gestion du transporteur]]
Editorial summary, not independently verified.
TL;DR: the French tax is suspended; European rules apply now.
According to the Service Public page “La taxe française sur les petits colis remplacée par un droit de douane européen” (published 1 July 2026, updated 6 July 2026):
- The French import tax known as the “small-parcel tax”, in place since 1 March 2026, is suspended from 1 July 2026.
- That follows the entry into force of a flat EU customs duty of €3, applicable to parcels with a value of €150 or less entering the European Union.
- The duty applies per category of articles present in the parcel. Service Public’s example: 2 toys, 1 coat and 2 bottles of perfume make 3 categories, so €9; 3 T-shirts and 1 pair of shoes make 2 categories, so €6.
- Categories are defined from the European Combined Nomenclature.
La Poste confirms on its page that the “Taxe Petit Colis” of 1 March 2026 is withdrawn from 1 July 2026.
Understood for the €3. And the “€2 handling fee” people have been talking about since early November — is that the same thing?
No, they are two separate elements. Service Public (article published 30 October 2026) explains:
- From 1 November 2026, a handling fee of €2 per category of article applies on a distance-commerce consignment, with no value threshold.
- It covers goods shipped directly from a State outside the customs territory of the Union to a private person in the EU.
- It is added to the €3 duty (same category logic). Example from the page: 2 toys, 1 coat and 2 bottles of perfume give €6 of handling fee; 3 T-shirts and 1 pair of shoes, €4.
- The text cites Regulation (EU) 2026/2108 and Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/2152. The amount is to be reviewed at European level every two years.
For the same European rules on VAT and procedures, see IOSS, special arrangements or standard procedure.
Reading note: who actually owes them? The two pages do not say quite the same thing, so here is each source separately.
- Service Public: the €3 duty is settled by the platforms and the sellers who ship into the EU under distance commerce. The €2 handling fee is settled by those same parties and, where applicable, by the carriers, and the page notes that traders remain free to pass that charge on to their customers.
- La Poste: settlement can be made at purchase on the trader’s site, or on arrival of the consignment, with the recipient. It gives the example of 2 T-shirts: declared on a single CN23 line, €3 and €2; on two lines, €6 and €4.
Verdict: the same amount can appear in the total asked by the site or on the carrier’s notice, depending on how the seller organised the consignment. Nothing above says that French customs asks you to settle.
Exactly, the question of the messages: “customs asks you to settle fees” — what does that look like?
[[PHOTO: capture d’écran fictive d’un SMS « colis bloqué, régler les frais de douane » avec un lien raccourci, données personnelles masquées, à côté de l’e-mail officiel de La Poste_Colissimo]]
What the official sources say:
- Service Public (30 October 2026): “customs services do not send private persons a demand for settlement of customs duties and handling fees”.
- French customs press release of 27 November 2025: customs never asks for settlement by SMS or e-mail. The phrase “customs fees” can mean fees of the carrier for its service, not of the administration. A parcel “held by customs” is most often waiting for missing documents or for settlement of extra fees so that it can be presented to the customs services. That said, parcels can genuinely be held or seized in the case of illicit or dangerous goods.
- La Poste: if in doubt, use the shipment number in its tracking tool; the legitimate e-mail comes from La Poste_Colissimo and leads to the official La Poste site.
- French customs says to report scams via PHAROS or SignalConso and to keep the evidence (invoices, exchanges, screenshots).
The most common scam patterns are in Staying safe: scams, fake middlemen and privacy.
Summary (updated as of 9 November 2026):
- The French small-parcel tax (1 March 2026) is suspended since 1 July 2026; in its place, a flat EU customs duty of €3 per category of article, for parcels up to €150 (Service Public).
- From 1 November 2026, a EU handling fee of €2 per category of article is added, with no value threshold (Service Public).
- Service Public says these amounts are settled by platforms and sellers (and, where applicable, carriers); La Poste notes they can be settled at purchase or on arrival of the parcel by the recipient. The number of CN23 declaration lines changes the total (La Poste’s example).
- Import VAT and La Poste’s handling charges are other lines. On its page, La Poste states reduced handling charges (€2 or €5 depending on the type of parcel) for online settlement before delivery, and a full rate on receipt; that full rate varies with the VAT rate of the territory.
- French customs does not send private persons a demand for settlement. “Customs fees” can mean the carrier’s fees.
- Counterfeiting is among the prohibited or regulated products named by French customs. The detail is in Counterfeits and customs in France and Belgium.
Posts explaining how to declare a lower value or get around a check are removed. Questions for the moderators: About.
Official sources (consulted on 9 November 2026):
- Service Public, La taxe française sur les petits colis remplacée par un droit de douane européen : service-public.gouv.fr
- Service Public, Colis importés : l’Union européenne instaure de nouveaux frais de traitement : service-public.gouv.fr
- La Poste, Comment régler les frais de douane pour un colis de l’international : laposte.fr
- Douane française, communiqué du 27 novembre 2025 : douane.gouv.fr
Updated as of 9 November 2026. General information, not legal advice.
Editorial summary, not independently verified.
Agreed with the summary. Worth rechecking only if Service Public, La Poste or French customs change their pages.