EU Shipping Reform Changes 2026
Changes in European Union shipping laws will cause an impact to all orders shipped to the 27 European Union member states as of July 1st, 2026 that may affect you. This changes are part of the EU Customs Reform, and affect all e-commerce parcels and orders being delivered to consumers (which may include businesses) within the EU27 member states. As this includes packages coming from Japan, this will impact any orders you make from Japanese e-commerce outlets.
We have done our best to summarise these details in an easy-to-understand fashion, but inaccuracies can arise. We advise contacting your local embassy or consulate in Japan for the most accurate information possible.
Please note that this impacts mail order purchases specifically, and does not impact duty-free purchases made in our store in Osaka. You will be able to continue to visit us in-store and purchase items tax-free, and take them with you when you leave Japan.
Please also note this does not impact countries that are in Europe, but are not part of the European Union. For example, orders sent to Switzerland, Norway, and the United Kingdom are not subject to these regulations.
Find relevant updates to these shipment changes below. Document updates will also be listed here.
June 19th, 2026: This blog was created.
Removal of De Minimis / Duty Exemption
Previously, the European Union (EU) had a duty exemption system on all purchases under 150EUR (About 27,000JPY at time of writing).
As of July 1st, 2026, this exemption ends. All orders shipped to countries in the European Union will now have duties applied to them by the courier. This charge is not listed in purchases from us, and the courier will bill these when they bill for VAT.
Enforcement is based on customs clearance date, not shipping date. This means that orders that were made before July 1st, 2026 (for example, on June 29th or 30th, 2026) may still be subject to these new regulations if they arrive in customs clearance on or after July 1st, 2026.
Customs clearance will always occur in the final destination country, so items may sometimes take longer than expected to arrive.
Addition of Flat Customs Duty
As of July 1st, 2026, all packages destined for the European Union will have a flat customs duty of 3EUR applied per line item.
Please see below for examples.
Example One: One Line Order
Order of one kitchen knife
Flat Customs Duty of 3EUR
Example Two: Two Line Order
Order of one kitchen knife, and one whetstone
Flat Customs Duty of 6EUR
Example Three: One Line Order, Multiple Items
Order of two kitchen knives
Flat Customs Duty of 3EUR
Line items are determined under what is called a Harmonized System (HS) code. Please be mindful that sometimes similar items can be classified under different HS codes. For example, a hunting knife and a kitchen knife would likely go under different HS Codes.
Please also note that as of November 1, 2026, a new, seperate customs handling fee will also apply based on line item. We will update this blog with more information on this when we learn more.
Country Specific Increases
Packages going to certain EU27 member states will have further, seperate increases, but this is yet to be finalised.
At the time of writing, shipments to France may incur an extra 2EUR per line item.
At the time of writing, shipments to Romania may incur an extra fee. We are currently unsure of what this fee will be.
We will update this section as further changes occur and we learn about them.
VAT and other customs duties will still be applied as per usual, on top of these other charges.
More Information
For further information, we recommend contacting the courier directly, however you can also contact us for further assistance.