The 2028 EU “deemed importer”: agreed, not yet law

What the reform does

Under the EU customs reform, the platform or seller facilitating a B2C distance sale into the EU becomes the deemed importer — liable for customs duty, import VAT and regulatory compliance on import, settling duty through IOSS at the point of sale rather than at the border. The consumer stops being on the hook; you take their place. Status matters here: this is a political agreement reached 26 March 2026, not adopted law. Formal adoption is still pending, and the e-commerce Customs Data Hub is targeted for 1 July 2028 — a target date, not a settled one.

Source: Political agreement 26 Mar 2026 (Council/Commission); Data Hub for e-commerce targeted 1 Jul 2028; formal adoption pending. Treat date and status as provisional until the adopted text publishes.

The part that catches sellers out

The value of the goods becomes irrelevant to whether you are a deemed importer — there is no threshold to hide under. And being the deemed importer means being liable for the duty rate, which means being liable for the classification. The €3 interim buckets hide that today. Once the reform applies, getting the HS code right stops being optional and starts being your personal exposure.

Source: Forbes 17 Jan 2024: deemed importers must categorise each product to find the duty rate, “challenging due to the vast array of products”; €150 threshold abolished.

Why the VAT firms won’t cover this for you

The intermediaries you’ll be told to appoint are VAT specialists — they register you for IOSS and file returns. They do not classify your products, and classification is exactly what the 2028 liability turns on. That gap is yours to close, and the cheapest time to close it is before the deadline, not during the rush.

Source: IOSS intermediaries file VAT returns, do not classify — Avalara/VAT IT/Taxually service descriptions, 2025–2026.