At the start of 2026, Italy introduced a €2 flat tax on low-value parcels arriving from non-EU countries. The measure, applied to shipments valued at up to €150, was designed to address the sharp rise in cross-border e-commerce imports and to offset the administrative burden placed on customs authorities.
What appeared to be a targeted fiscal and regulatory tool has, instead, produced a series of unintended effects, reshaping logistics flows across the European Union and raising questions about the effectiveness of unilateral national actions within the single market.
The rapid growth of direct-to-consumer platforms such as Temu and Shein has driven a surge in small parcels entering Europe from outside the EU. Italian authorities framed the €2 levy as a way to recover customs handling costs, improve compliance checks, and reduce the flood of ultra-low-priced goods competing with domestic and European retailers.
From a policy perspective, the tax was also intended to send a signal that the era of frictionless, near-zero-cost imports into national markets was coming to an end.
Rather than reducing overall import volumes, the new tax quickly altered routing strategies. Logistics providers and marketplaces began diverting shipments away from Italian entry points toward other EU hubs where no comparable national levy applied.
Major cargo airports and parcel gateways in northern and central Europe became alternative points of entry. From there, goods were transported overland into Italy, remaining fully compliant with EU single-market rules while avoiding the €2 border charge.
The result was a significant drop in parcels arriving directly into Italy, even as Italian consumers continued to order the same products in similar volumes.
The shift in routing has had immediate consequences for Italy’s logistics ecosystem. Airports, handling agents, and customs service providers have seen a decline in inbound e-commerce volumes. This loss of traffic translates into reduced revenue, lower infrastructure utilization, and competitive disadvantages compared with logistics hubs in neighboring countries.
For Italy, the tax has therefore weakened its position as a gateway for international e-commerce, without materially slowing the inflow of low-value goods into the domestic market.
One of the more paradoxical outcomes of the policy has been its environmental impact. By encouraging goods to enter the EU elsewhere and then travel longer distances by road or rail, the measure has increased transport mileage per parcel.
While the tax was not designed as an environmental policy, the resulting rise in intra-EU transport emissions runs counter to broader European sustainability goals and highlights the complexity of supply-chain responses to localized regulation.
Italy’s experience illustrates a broader structural issue within the EU single market. When individual member states introduce national measures targeting cross-border e-commerce, logistics operators can exploit regulatory differences through routing arbitrage.
This dynamic undermines the effectiveness of country-specific interventions and shifts economic activity rather than addressing the underlying challenge of low-value import growth.
The unintended effects of Italy’s parcel tax have reinforced calls for harmonized European action. EU institutions have already signaled support for a bloc-wide handling fee on low-value parcels, intended to replace fragmented national approaches and reduce incentives to reroute.
A coordinated system would apply the same rules regardless of the point of entry, protecting the integrity of the single market while ensuring that customs costs are covered fairly across all member states.
Italy’s €2 parcel tax offers a clear lesson for policymakers and e-commerce stakeholders. In an integrated market with highly flexible logistics networks, unilateral measures can produce outcomes that run directly counter to their original intent.
Rather than curbing imports, the tax redistributed logistics flows, weakened domestic infrastructure competitiveness, and increased transport emissions. As cross-border e-commerce continues to grow, effective regulation is likely to depend less on national initiatives and more on coordinated European frameworks that reflect the realities of modern supply chains.
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