Shipping from Canada to France: customs duty, VAT, CETA and the €2 fee (2026)
Parcels from Canada to buyers in France no longer have a duty-free limit. Orders of €150 or less pay a flat €3 duty per item when VAT is collected through IOSS or the parcel goes by Canada Post, and from 1 November 2026 a €2 handling fee per item is added. French VAT is 20%. Above €150, the EU–Canada trade agreement (CETA) can bring the duty to 0% if your invoice carries the CETA origin declaration. Here are worked examples for Etsy and own-shop sellers, with an official source and date on every rule.
The rules in 60 seconds
The EU's €150 customs-duty exemption for low-value consignments was abolished on 1 July 2026 (Council Regulation (EU) 2026/382). Goods in consignments of €150 or less are now subject to customs duty.
From 1 July 2026 until 1 July 2028, a flat customs duty of €3 per item applies to consignments of €150 or less that are declared under IOSS or sent as postal consignments. Normal tariff rates are expected to apply once the EU customs data hub is ready.
From 1 November 2026 a Union handling fee of €2 per item (per declaration line, i.e. per distinct tariff line) applies to goods sold in distance sales (B2C e-commerce) to EU consumers from outside the EU, at any value, including over €150. It is in addition to the €3 duty, is not part of the customs value, is paid by the declarant (seller/IOSS holder, carrier or representative), has VAT charged on it, cannot be refunded (even on returns), and does not apply to private gifts. The amount is final: Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/2152 was published in the Official Journal (L series) on 21 October 2026. The €2 handling fee explained
TARIC lists both charges on these Indian goods: the low-value consignment duty of €3.00 (measure under Regulation 2026/382), running on after 31 October 2026, and from 1 November 2026 the Union handling fee of €2.00.
France's own 'taxe sur les petits colis' (€2 per article on low-value parcels from outside the EU, from 1 March 2026) was suspended from 1 July 2026, when the EU flat €3 duty took over. It is no longer charged on top of the EU duty.
Orders of €150 or less
For consignments of €150 or less, VAT can be charged at checkout through the Import One-Stop Shop (IOSS), at the buyer's country rate. Marketplaces handle this for sales made through them. Non-EU sellers registering for IOSS themselves generally need an EU-established intermediary. Do I need an IOSS number?
Without IOSS, import VAT is collected from the buyer on delivery. The postal operator or courier usually adds its own clearance fee.
Consignments of €150 or less that are neither IOSS nor postal (e.g. courier, buyer pays VAT on import) are outside the €3 regime. Since the duty exemption is gone, they appear to pay the normal tariff rate. Check with your courier.
An 'item' means each different tariff sub-heading in the parcel. Example: 1 silk blouse + 2 wool blouses = 2 items = €6. Identical goods can be grouped on one declaration line. How items are counted, with examples
Each consignment is counted separately. Orders shipped separately to the same buyer are separate consignments even if they arrive on the same day, and one order sent in two parcels is two consignments. Orders of two different consumers must always be declared separately.
For the €150 limit, the value is the price of the goods themselves, without transport and insurance (unless they are included in the price and not shown separately on the invoice) and without other taxes and charges.
Example: one pair of silver earrings for €40.00 (free shipping) to a buyer in France, shipped on or after 1 November 2026. French VAT is 20%. Carrier clearance fees are not included because they vary; see each row in the calculator.
| How you sell and ship | EU duty | VAT | €2 handling fee | Buyer pays at the door | Try it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sold on Etsy or another marketplace (IOSS), sent by Canada Post | €3.00 | €8.00 | €2.00 | €5.00 | Open in calculator |
| Own website with your own IOSS number (DDP), sent by courier | €3.00 | €8.40 | €2.00 | €0.00 | Open in calculator |
| Own website, no IOSS, sent by Canada Post (buyer pays on delivery) | €3.00 | €9.00 | €2.00 | €14.00 | Open in calculator |
| Own website, no IOSS, sent by courier (buyer pays on delivery) | €1.00 | €8.60 | €2.00 | €11.60 | Open in calculator |
With IOSS the VAT is paid at checkout. The €3 duty and the €2 fee are owed by the declarant, but if nobody prepays them the carrier may still ask the buyer for them: that is the €5.00 in the first row. Ask your carrier or shipping service whether it bills them to you, and build them into your EU shipping price. The courier row uses the normal 2.5% rate for silver jewellery, because courier parcels outside IOSS are outside the €3 regime; this point is only partly confirmed (see above). Read more about how the EU counts "items".
If VAT is collected through IOSS, the €3 duty always applies, even to goods with preferential origin (e.g. UK goods under the TCA). Without IOSS, a preference can only be claimed on a full customs declaration (the 'H1' dataset), not on the simplified low-value ones; preferential goods are then outside the €3 regime, but the Union handling fee (from 1 November 2026) still applies. UK to Ireland customs charges
So for small parcels, CETA usually makes no difference: under IOSS the €3 duty applies anyway, and by post it only helps if a full customs declaration is filed.
Orders above €150: where CETA saves money
Above €150, IOSS cannot be used. Import VAT and customs duty (normal tariff rate) are due at import, paid by the buyer (DDU) or prepaid by the seller (DDP via a courier).
Without the CETA preference, Canadian goods pay the normal EU (third-country) rate, for example 2.5% for silver or gold jewellery, 12% for cotton T-shirts, 6.5% for incense and 5.5% for ceramic tableware; candles, printed books and paintings are 0% anyway. Under CETA these products are 0%.
EU standard VAT rates range from 17% (Luxembourg) to 27% (Hungary), e.g. Germany 19%, France 20%, Italy 22%, Spain 21%, Netherlands 21%, Ireland 23%. Reduced rates apply to some goods (e.g. books).
Example: one item worth €200.00 made in Canada, sent by courier to France on or after 1 November 2026, buyer pays on delivery (DDU). Without CETA the normal EU rate applies; with a valid CETA origin declaration the duty is 0%. VAT is 20% on the price plus duty, and the €2 fee is added in both cases. Carrier fees are extra.
Codes and rates from TARIC, the EU's official tariff database (European Commission, Taxation and Customs Union, checked 28 Oct 2026, origin Canada, reference date 1 November 2026). TARIC shows a 0% Canada preference for the jewellery, T-shirt, incense and tableware codes above. Duty and VAT are worked out on the item price only; customs charges them on the value including transport to the EU border. Your product may have a different code and rate: check it in our HS code lookup links.
How to claim CETA: the origin declaration
Goods of Canadian origin get 0% EU duty under CETA (the EU–Canada trade agreement, applied since 21 September 2017) for products such as silver and gold jewellery, cotton T-shirts, incense and ceramic tableware, as shown in TARIC for 1 November 2026. To claim it, the exporter writes the CETA origin declaration on the invoice or another commercial document; a Canadian exporter includes its Business Number (or leaves the field blank if it has none). No government certificate is needed. Check the rate and origin rule for your own product. Canada to Germany duty and VAT
For consignments of goods worth more than €6,000, a Canadian exporter must be registered and quote its CRA Business Number in the origin declaration; below that, any exporter can make the declaration. The declaration can cover one shipment or several identical shipments over up to 12 months.
The preference only applies to goods that are of Canadian origin under the CETA rules of origin, not to goods you buy abroad and resell from Canada. Put the declaration on the commercial invoice you give the courier, and keep a copy and your supporting records.
Checklist for selling from Canada to buyers in France
- Put the HS code, a precise description ("sterling silver earrings", "cotton T-shirt"), the value and "Country of origin: Canada" on every customs form. See how to fill in CN22 and CN23.
- Count the different tariff lines in each parcel: each one pays €3 (IOSS or post) and, from 1 November 2026, €2.
- Ship one order in one parcel. A second parcel is a second consignment and the per-item charges start again.
- Selling on your own website? Without IOSS, your French buyer pays VAT and a carrier fee on delivery, which leads to refused parcels. See do I need an IOSS number?
- For orders above €150 of goods made in Canada, add the CETA origin declaration to the invoice so your buyer does not pay the full EU duty.
- Give your carrier the product identifiers EU customs needs from 1 November 2026: see our PID checklist.
Is Canada Post shipping to France?
Canada Post's service list dated 4 November 2026 shows parcel and letter services available again to all 27 EU countries, including Germany, France, Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Luxembourg and Portugal. The only destinations it lists as suspended are Belarus, Cuba, Haiti, Iran, North Korea, Libya, Russia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and Yemen. Canada Post EU service status
France was one of nine EU countries Canada Post suspended for parcels from July to October 2026. Status for every EU country and the Christmas send-by dates: is Canada Post shipping to the EU?
Since 1 July 2026, the declaration for goods sold at a distance in consignments of €150 or less can no longer be invalidated just because the goods were returned after release. So the €3 duty is not refunded through that route. The general refund grounds (for example defective goods or goods not matching the contract, Article 116 of the Union Customs Code) still apply.
The €3 duty and the €2 fee are not refunded when a buyer returns an order; see international returns and duty refunds. Selling to Germany? See Canada → Germany (19% VAT and Deutsche Post's €7.50 fee). Shipping to other EU countries? The same EU rules apply, only VAT differs: see the Canada → EU route guide. Also selling to the US? See Canada → US. We record every rule change in the change log.
This page is general information, not legal, tax or customs advice. Whether your goods qualify for CETA depends on the product-specific rules of origin. See the disclaimer.
Sources for this page
- Council Regulation (EU) 2026/382 (abolition of €150 duty relief; €3 per item), EUR-Lex. Accessed 20 Oct 2026. Partly verified
- EU Customs Reform, European Commission – Taxation and Customs Union. Accessed 20 Oct 2026. Partly verified
- Council gives final green light to new customs duty rules for small parcels (11 Feb 2026), Council of the EU. Accessed 20 Oct 2026. Partly verified
- Union Handling Fee (UHF) – 1 November 2026 (published 30 Sep 2026), Revenue (Irish Tax and Customs). Accessed 22 Oct 2026. Verified
- Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/2152 of 21 September 2026 establishing the amount of the Union handling fee (OJ L, 21 Oct 2026), Official Journal of the European Union (EUR-Lex). Accessed 23 Oct 2026. Verified
- Handling fee for e-commerce (last update 22 Oct 2026), Dutch Customs (Douane). Accessed 3 Nov 2026. Verified
- Commission sets Union handling fee at EUR 2 per item (2 Oct 2026), CLECAT (industry association, secondary). Accessed 20 Oct 2026. Verified
- TARIC consultation: measures for imports originating in India (third-country duty, GSP, low-value consignment duty, Union handling fee), codes 7113110000, 7113190000, 6109100010, 6204420000, 6214100000, 6214200000, 6302210000, 3307410000, 4202210000; simulation dates 25 Oct and 1 Nov 2026, European Commission, Taxation and Customs Union. Accessed 25 Oct 2026. Verified
- Entrée en vigueur au 1er juillet des droits de douane sur les petits colis à l'échelle de l'UE (communiqué de presse n°850, 30 juin 2026), Ministère de l'Économie et des Finances (France). Accessed 2 Nov 2026. Verified
- Questions-Réponses sur la Taxe sur les petits colis (TPC), Direction générale des douanes et droits indirects (France). Accessed 2 Nov 2026. Verified
- La taxe française sur les petits colis remplacée par un droit de douane européen (published 1 July 2026, updated 6 July 2026), Service-Public.fr (Direction de l'information légale et administrative, Premier ministre). Accessed 3 Nov 2026. Verified
- Questions & answers – EUR 3 customs duty guidance (30 Jun 2026), European Commission. Accessed 20 Oct 2026. Verified
- The temporary EUR 3 customs duty and the Union handling fee: Guidance for Member States and Trade (version of 5 Oct 2026), sections 5.1–5.4 and 6.2 (consignment, item, postal consignments, preferential origin), European Commission, DG Taxation and Customs Union. Accessed 22 Oct 2026. Verified
- Customs formalities for low value consignments (IOSS), European Commission – Taxation and Customs Union. Accessed 20 Oct 2026. Verified
- VAT One Stop Shop: overview of the OSS schemes, deemed supplier and intermediary (import scheme), European Commission. Accessed 26 Oct 2026. Verified
- The temporary EUR 3 customs duty and the Union handling fee: Guidance for Member States and Trade (version of 5 Oct 2026), section 8 Product identifiers, European Commission, DG Taxation and Customs Union. Accessed 21 Oct 2026. Verified
- Guidance and legal text on temporary flat fee on low-value imports (8 Jun 2026, updated 20 Jul 2026), European Commission, DG Taxation and Customs Union. Accessed 22 Oct 2026. Verified
- Product identifiers for e-commerce imports mandatory from 1 November 2026 (news, 3 Nov 2026), European Commission, DG Taxation and Customs Union. Accessed 4 Nov 2026. Verified
- Commission welcomes Council agreement on removing the €150 threshold for the VAT Import One-Stop Shop (9 Nov 2026), European Commission, Taxation and Customs Union. Accessed 10 Nov 2026. Verified
- VAT rules and rates (Your Europe) / VAT rates in Member States, European Union. Accessed 20 Oct 2026. Partly verified
- TARIC consultation: measures for imports originating in Canada (third-country duty, Canada tariff preference under CETA, low-value consignment duty, Union handling fee), codes 7113110000, 7113190000, 6109100010, 3307410000, 6912002390, 3406000000, 4901990000, 9701910000; reference date 1 Nov 2026, European Commission, Taxation and Customs Union. Accessed 28 Oct 2026. Verified
- CETA Protocol on rules of origin and origin procedures, Annex 2: text of the origin declaration (all language versions), European Commission, Taxation and Customs Union. Accessed 28 Oct 2026. Verified
- Step-by-step guide for businesses using the CETA, Government of Canada, Trade Commissioner Service. Accessed 28 Oct 2026. Verified
- Service Suspensions and Availability – As of November 4, 2026 at 11am (EST) (PDF), Canada Post. Accessed 9 Nov 2026. Verified
- Delivery service disruptions: International suspensions and delays (notice dated 4 November 2026), Canada Post. Accessed 9 Nov 2026. Verified
Rules change often: the latest change we tracked was on 10 Nov 2026 (US: the 178 China Section 301 product exclusions are extended to 9 January 2027). Alerts send one short email, with the source, only when a rule changes on a route you pick.