An item is goods in a consignment sharing the same tariff classification, the same description, and — where origin is part of the declaration — the same origin. For the H7 declaration, Commission guidance on the €3 duty and the handling fee, version of 5 October 2026 says the duty applies per declaration line irrespective of the quantity (§5.2), and its H7 example declares goods with different descriptions under one HS6 code on one line (§5.2); the guidance is not legally binding. Three identical t-shirts are one item. A t-shirt and a pair of socks are two. Where origin is declared (it is carried in a full H1 declaration, but not in the simplified H6/H7 used for many low-value parcels), the same t-shirt from two countries is two items. On a declaration that omits origin, that split does not apply — so which declaration your carrier uses changes the count.
Source: Definition of “item”: Delegated Reg (EU) 2015/2446 Art 1(61), inserted by Delegated Reg (EU) 2026/1022 Art 1(1)(b) (not Reg (EU) 2026/382, which contains no such definition). Country of origin available in H1 and not in H6/H7: Commission guidance on the €3 duty and the handling fee, version of 5 October 2026, §5.2.
Article 177 UCC and Article 228 UCC-IA allow, under certain circumstances, the highest applicable rate of duty to be charged on goods in one consignment that are classified under different tariff subheadings. Where the €3 duty applies, the amended Article 228(1) UCC-IA does not allow that grouping (Commission guidance on the €3 duty and the handling fee, version of 5 October 2026, §5.2): each item is counted on its own, so a five-item parcel owes €15 in duty, not €3, and not one blended rate.
Source: Commission guidance on the €3 duty and the handling fee, version of 5 October 2026, §5.2 (Article 177 UCC; Article 228(1) UCC-IA as amended); Reg (EU) 2026/382 Art 2.
The duty calculator classifies each line before it counts items. Automatic classification isn’t live yet, so today it stops before a result.
Open the tool →Every claim on this page is sourced to the legal text or to the Commission's guidance, cited where it is used. DutyVault verifies against primary EU texts (EUR-Lex, DG TAXUD). None of this has been reviewed by a customs lawyer, and consistency with a text is not the same as being right about your exact situation — it is a starting point that makes a lawyer’s hour cheap.
Reviewed on 18 Oct 2026 against Delegated Reg (EU) 2015/2446, Reg (EU) 2026/382 and the Commission guidance (version of 5 October 2026).