Romania’s Ministry of Finance refuted media allegations circulated about the effect of the so-called “Temu tax” of EUR 5 per low-value parcel received from outside the European Union (under EUR 100). 

The parcel traffic was not impacted, the EUR 5 fee is collected irrespective of the route the parcel follows (via a third-party EU country), and the VAT is collected at purchase from the buyer, the ministry said, as reported by Startupcafe.ro.

The tax, enforced as of January 2026 but still lacking implementation specifications, has reportedly resulted in the re-routing of parcels with orders from Temu, Shein, and Trendyol – with negative impact on the budget revenues and economic activity, according to public criticism circulated by several media outlets.

Separately from the response provided by the Finance Ministry, the concerns prompted by the unilateral enforcement of the “Temu tax” in Romania, in the absence of similar regime at EU level (a EUR 3 per parcel will be charged starting July across all EU countries), were linked to the incorporation of legal entities in the Union such as to deliver parcels as intra-EU and bypass the fee.

iulian@romania-insider.com

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