As of July 15, 2026, the National Bank of Ukraine has allowed postal operators, express carriers, and other international transport companies to transfer foreign currency abroad — specifically to pay customs duties, taxes, and other mandatory fees related to importing parcels into the EU territory.
Why now
The reason is straightforward. As of July 1, 2026, the European Union introduced a fixed fee of €3 for each parcel valued up to €150 arriving from countries outside the EU through international online platforms. If a single parcel contains goods from different categories, each category is taxed separately: another €3 each. The fee is collected from sellers registered in the EU's unified import system (IOSS), through which approximately 93% of all international online orders pass.
Before this decision, Ukrainian postal operators found themselves in a dead end: there is a customs fee in the European Union, but no currency instruments to pay it legally. The NBU closed this gap.
"The relief will apply to international postal and express shipments from Ukraine and other countries, the delivery services of which are provided by Ukrainian transport operators."
NBU Press Service, July 14, 2026
Who is affected and what changes
Approximately 4.4 million Ukrainians are located in the European Union — and most of them receive parcels from Ukraine at least several times a year. The new rules apply not only to family shipments but also to all B2C orders: purchases from Ukrainian stores, orders from craftspeople on Etsy or eBay. For a small seller shipping a single item worth €15, an additional €3 represents 20% of the product's price before VAT.
- Ukrposhta and private express carriers had already changed their rates following a similar NBU decision for the United States — in September 2025, when the U.S. eliminated the duty-free limit of $800.
- Now the same mechanism has been activated for the EU — the single largest market for Ukrainian small e-commerce.
- The NBU emphasized that the new transfers will not affect exchange rate dynamics or the level of international reserves — the transaction volumes are relatively small.
How this differs from previous relaxations
The NBU has already relaxed currency restrictions several times in a targeted manner since the start of the full-scale invasion — in April 2026, it concerned support for key economic and defense sectors. This decision is narrower: it does not affect individuals and does not expand the general currency transfer regime. It is purely an operational change — carriers received a legal channel for paying a specific new fee.
The question that remains open: if in 2028 the EU launches a Customs Data Center with complete elimination of the duty exemption threshold, rather than just a fixed €3 — will a small Ukrainian seller be able to withstand this burden without direct government support for tariff negotiations with Brussels?
