Royal Mail has told business customers that a €2 EU Handling Fee will apply to items sent to the EU from 1st November 2026. From the same date, Product Identifier (PID) data becomes mandatory for every item containing goods.
Royal Mail says the fee will be charged per HS code, matching the €3 flat customs duty that has applied to low-value parcels entering the EU since 1st July. A parcel with a T-shirt and a phone case covers two HS codes, so it carries €6 in duty and €4 in handling fees.
The fee applies to all items containing goods and to gifts valued above €45. Royal Mail says the EU has approved the fee but had not formally ratified it when the notice went out.
Under Royal Mail’s PDDP service, the fee is added to the postage and paid upfront by the sender. Under DDU, the recipient’s local postal operator collects it before delivery.
Royal Mail says most gifts will need to go DDU to most EU countries for procedural reasons, which leaves the recipient to pay the fee.
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On PIDs, Royal Mail is asking for two mandatory identifiers per goods item, whatever its value. The first is a Merchant Product Identifier, such as a seller SKU, an ASIN or an eBay listing ID. The second is a Non-Standardised Manufacturer Product Identifier, meaning the manufacturer’s own model or product reference.
A third identifier, the Standardised Manufacturer Product Identifier (EAN, GTIN or ISBN), is optional and only needed where the product has one.
Gifts worth €45 or less don’t need PID data. The rest of the customs information is still required, as it is now.
Royal Mail has added the new fields to Click & Drop. The merchant identifier goes in productSku and the manufacturer identifiers go in productReferenceId. The send tool on royalmail.com and Post Office counters will ask for the same data.
Royal Mail is also advising sellers to check their HS codes and product descriptions before November to avoid clearance delays. Its EU trade guidance hub lists the national fees already in place, including Italy’s €2 charge, which started on 1st January.
