Purpose

From 1 July 2026, the EU introduces a €3 customs duty per item for low-value e-commerce parcels (≤ €150) arriving from outside the EU. This applies to B2C shipments only; B2B is not included. Group Shipping needs to capture and pass extra product and fee information to support Royal Mail changes and likely wider carrier requirements over time.

1. Purpose

Why are we doing this?

The EU customs change requires Group Shipping to capture and pass additional product and fee information for applicable low-value e-commerce parcels entering the EU from outside the EU.

· Applies to consumer B2C shipments.

· B2B shipments are not included.

· Royal Mail has raised a change request; the impact is expected to expand to other carriers over time.

· Data becomes mandatory from 1 November 2026, based on the MCSS-14366 ticket timeline.

Source: EU introduces customs duties on low-value e-commerce packages (EU customs duties)

2. What is changing in Group Shipping API v4

Three new optional data points are being added. They are optional initially to avoid breaking existing integrations.

Field	Level	Purpose
ManufactureProductId	Item	Manufacturer or internal product reference.
StandardisedProductId	Item	Standard global product identifier, where available.
AdditionalHandlingFeesPaid	Shipment / customs	Indicates whether the sender has prepaid the applicable handling or customs fee.

3. Field definitions

A. Product Identifier fields (per item)

Important These fields are product identifiers, not customs classification codes. Do not send HS or Taric values in ManufactureProductId or StandardisedProductId.
Field	Status	Plain English meaning	Examples
SkuCode	Existing	Seller or platform product reference.	SKU, listing ID, catalogue number
ManufactureProductId	New	Manufacturer or internal product reference; often not a global standard.	Internal model code, series code
StandardisedProductId	New	Standard global product identifier where available.	GTIN, EAN, UPC

B. Customs Classification (HS / Taric) already supported

Use itemHsCode for customs classification.

Customer has	Send in itemHsCode
HS only	6 digits
Taric	10 digits (contains HS in first 6 digits)

C. AdditionalHandlingFeesPaid

A boolean flag to indicate whether the sender has prepaid the applicable handling or customs fee.

Value	Meaning
true	Fee prepaid by sender
false or not sent	Assume not prepaid; default is No
Note If prepaid, the customer should include the fee in Quoted Landed Cost, as per ticket notes.

4. Royal Mail Type 3 Pre-advice mapping

When generating Royal Mail Type 3 pre-advice, populate the following values:

Royal Mail field	Mapping rule	Default
MID / Reference ID	Use StandardisedProductId if present; else ManufactureProductId; else blank.	Blank
Additional Handling Fees Paid	Use AdditionalHandlingFeesPaid.	No when not provided

5. Example

{
"items": [
    {
      "skuCode": "SKU-123",
      "manufactureProductId": "MODEL-ABC-001",
      "standardisedProductId": "4006381333931",
      "itemHsCode": "6211201000"
    }
],
"carrierSpecifics": {
    "additionalHandlingFeesPaid": true
}
}

6. Customer guidance

Scenario	What to do
If you have Taric	Send the 10-digit value in itemHsCode. Do not use standardisedProductId.
If you have EAN / UPC / GTIN	Send it in standardisedProductId.
If you prepaid the EU fee	Set additionalHandlingFeesPaid=true and include it in Quoted Landed Cost.

Key points

· Three new optional fields are added to API v4.

· No breaking changes to existing integrations during the optional phase.

· HS and Taric codes continue to use itemHsCode.

· Product identifiers are separate from customs classification codes.

· Mandatory data submission is expected from 1 November 2026.

· Royal Mail mapping prioritises StandardisedProductId over ManufactureProductId.

Application Support -Global Trade Data Enhancements (EU)