On July 1, the European Union (EU) introduced a €3 tariff on any goods entering worth less than €150 – and it is already creating problems for comics, with The Phoenix and 2000 AD cancelling subscriptions. Anyone who has taken an online order set to be shipped to the EU – especially those with Kickstarter backers to fulfil beware.
Sales to the EU are no longer an option for The Phoenix
On June 26, the UK’s extremely popular children’s weekly The Phoenix, which offers subscriptions around the globe (including the US), emailed EU-based subscribers to inform them their subs would be cancelled early and refunded. The website now no longer offers subscriptions to EU mailing addresses. This has frustrated a number of parents, particularly in the Republic of Ireland and – thanks to post-Brexit trading arrangements – Northern Ireland (in the UK). With the added cost of €3 per delivery, the price per issue will have almost doubled.
In the email to subscribers, The Phoenix said,
“We’re writing with some sad news. Due to a new EU customs charge introduced from 1 July 2026, we’re no longer able to send The Phoenix subscriptions to customers based in the EU…Unfortunately, this means we can no longer continue supplying weekly comic subscriptions to EU addresses.”
On July 3, 2000 AD contacted subscribers to announce the cancellation of subscriptions to the weekly comic and its monthly counterpart Judge Dredd Megazine.
In their message,
“Due to a new EU Customs Charge introduced in July 2026, we are unfortunately no longer able to send subscription or individual copies of 2000 AD or Judge Dredd Megazine to customers based in the EU without applying a €3 surcharge per issue. This is such a large increase in cost relative to the product price and the previous shipping cost on which our subscription rates are based, that we cannot continue to distribute our subscriptions to EU customers for the amounts previously charged.”
Although implemented on July 1, it didn’t come entirely without warning. A hunt through the EU’s website shows a press release announcing the decision being made on December 12, 2025 by the EU Commission. According to the Commission, the new €3 tariff is a stop-gap until the implementation of an “EU Customs Data Hub for e-commerce” that will calculate customs duties “based on the value, origin and tariff classification of the good”, which is expected to be in place by July 1, 2028. What remains in place from now on, however, is the end of the de minimis exemption that kept small, low value items import tax free.
Maroš Šefčovič, EU Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security; Interinstitutional Relations and Transparency, said about the new policy:
“With e-commerce expanding rapidly, the world is changing fast – and we need the right tools to keep pace. That is why the decision on customs duties for small parcels coming into the EU is so important to ensuring fair competition at our borders in today’s e-commerce era.”
Based on the messaging, the impetus for the tariff is goods ordered online that do not meet strict EU safety standards, and foreign goods sold at a retail price that severely undercuts local markets – they also cite environmental concerns from unnecessary waste.
While it doesn’t target any one country or business, as The Guardian puts it, this new tariff will certainly impact the kings of megacheap – Chinese online retail marketplaces Shein, Temu, and AliExpress, where you can source anything from fast fashion to cheap electronics. Unfortunately, since the tariff has a sweeping implementation, it is cold comfort for anyone with an online marketplace and orders destined for the EU below €150 ($170) to fulfil, even if the sale took place before July 1. In the comics world, this will affect publishers, small presses, crowdfunded projects, and anyone that does direct online sales and who already had to navigate the rising tide of international shipping costs.
HOWEVER
While direct to customer sales are now facing an extra €3 on every unique item in an order, it might not be all doom and gloom – as it seems to not be calculated based on quantity. A large order of the same type/category of item – books, for example – only needs to pay the €3 tariff once per shipment.
EU messaging has this example:
“If you buy 5 T-shirts, a €3 customs duty will be applied (as all T-shirts fall under the same tariff classification)
“If you buy 3 T-shirts and a watch, a €6 customs duty will be applied (as the T-shirts and the watch fall under two different tariff classifications)”
For those publishers that had EU subscribers as a significant revenue stream, it is not implausible that weekly subscriptions could switch to bundle packs shipped monthly or quarterly – much as 2000 AD used to do in the US when it was with Diamond, or they might alter the subscription price to take account of the extra charge per issue (unlikely). It also will not necessarily impact larger consignments (totalling below the $170 threshold) shipped to the EU. So bulk international orders to comic shops or distributed to newsstands in the EU will be limitedly affected. Unfortunately, that won’t help small pressers with online webshops who rely on small orders for their books.
In the UK, trade bodies representing traditional book publishers are already crying foul, as exports of English language print titles to the EU brought in £521.6 million ($700million) last year, so an exemption could happen with some lobbying – but when and how might wait until 2028.
