Portugal's Duty-Free Window for Cheap Non-EU Parcels Shuts on 1 July, With CTT Urging Shoppers to Clear Orders by Sunday
From 1 July the EU scraps the duty-free allowance on sub-€150 parcels from outside the bloc. CTT is urging shoppers to clear any incoming orders by 29 June to dodge the new charges.
Households in Portugal that regularly order from overseas web stores have only a few days to get ahead of a costly rule change. CTT (Correios de Portugal, the national postal operator) has issued an urgent alert urging customers to clear any parcels arriving from outside the European Union by 29 June, before sweeping new customs rules take effect on 1 July.
The headline change is the end of the duty-free allowance for low-value goods. Until now, packages worth less than €150 entered the bloc free of customs duty. From 1 July that exemption disappears: every parcel arriving from a non-EU country becomes liable for customs duty and value-added tax (VAT), no matter how cheap the contents.
What the new charges look like
Under the reform, a flat customs duty of €3 per type of product applies to each shipment. The final amount is set by the Autoridade Tributária (Tax Authority) according to how the goods are classified, their description, the country of origin and the information the seller provides at checkout. On top of that come VAT and the clearance fee CTT levies for processing the paperwork — extras that, by some industry estimates, can add €7 or more to a single item.
CTT’s practical advice is to read the small print before buying. Shoppers should check whether a non-EU retailer’s advertised price already includes duty and VAT. Where it does not — as is common on many international marketplaces — the buyer will face an additional desalfandegamento (customs clearance) bill collected by CTT on delivery, in addition to the duty and tax owed to the state.
A narrow exception for gifts
One carve-out survives. Genuine gifts sent between private individuals for non-commercial reasons remain exempt from VAT and customs duty, provided the declared value does not exceed €45. The relief is deliberately tight, and is unlikely to cover the bulk of the cross-border shopping that has boomed on sites selling clothing, electronics and household goods.
For anyone with an order already in the post, the message from CTT is to act fast: parcels that complete customs clearance before 29 June escape the new fee structure entirely, while those that arrive on or after 1 July fall under the tougher regime. The operator says it will publish frequently asked questions on its website and support customers through the transition, while warning that delivery times for non-EU parcels could lengthen during the switchover.
The change lands hardest on the steady flow of low-cost orders from China, the United States and the United Kingdom that many residents have come to treat as effectively tax-free. By stripping out the €150 threshold, Brussels is closing a gap that domestic retailers have long complained gave foreign sellers an unfair edge — but the immediate effect for consumers is that the era of the cheap, charge-free international parcel is ending.
