{"id":543541,"date":"2026-06-19T13:26:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T13:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/543541\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T13:26:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T13:26:11","slug":"marks-spencer-calls-for-uk-ireland-exemption-on-new-e3-customs-duty-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/543541\/","title":{"rendered":"Marks & Spencer calls for UK\/Ireland exemption on new \u20ac3 customs duty \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Marks & Spencer<\/a> has warned that new EU customs rules, which will impose a charge of \u20ac3 on every item shipped from the UK to Ireland, could hurt its Irish business. As a result, it is calling for an exemption on the duty for UK-Ireland trade. <\/p>\n

The new EU customs rules, due to be introduced on July 1st, mean that online purchases from outside the EU will incur a charge of \u20ac3 per item. Previously, provided that they were valued at less than \u20ac150, such goods did not require import duty to be paid by consumers when they were sent to Ireland, under the so-called \u201cde minimis\u201d regime.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0New EU customs charges could signal the end of cheap online shoppingOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Now, amid concerns over the impact cheap Chinese imports from retailers such as Shein and Temu is having on the competitiveness of the European Union, new charges will apply from July 1st.<\/p>\n

These include a \u20ac3 per item charge, and possible administration fee of \u20ac6.95 from An Post. In addition, the European Commission is to introduce a handling charge per order in November of about \u20ac2. <\/p>\n

British retailers have been closing around Ireland in recent years, including brands such as Claire\u2019s Accessories, New Look, Russell & Bromley and Ted Baker. Now it is feared that Irish consumers may face similar challenges when looking to buy online with UK-based retailers, as the introduction of a new customs duty might make selling across the Irish Sea unviable. <\/p>\n

A spokeswoman for Marks & Spencer (M&S) told The Irish Times that the changes \u201cadd significant cost and complexity to M&S operations in Ireland\u201d. As a result, she said the changes risk undermining its ability to offer a full product range to Irish customers, \u201cas well as impacting future investment decisions\u201d.<\/p>\n

The retailer, which posted Irish revenues of some \u20ac371 million in the 12 months to the end of March 2025, and employs more than 1,000 people here, recently invested \u20ac10 million \u201cto lower prices for our customers in Ireland and remain committed to offering trusted value\u201d.<\/p>\n

Now it fears the new charge might affect its ability to do business here. As a result, it is calling for trade between the UK and Ireland, likely of the order of the previous \u20ac150 limit, to be excluded from the charge.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would welcome a de minimis exemption between the UK and Ireland to avoid unnecessary costs for retail businesses and customers,\u201d a spokeswoman said.<\/p>\n

Aidan Finnegan, deputy director general of the British and Irish Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber has been advocating on the issue on behalf of their retailing members, at Irish, UK and EU level.<\/p>\n

Finnegan said the new customs duties could make it \u201cunviable for some retailers\u201d to continue trading online in Ireland. <\/p>\n

He highlighted the concerns among its members, including one, who sells 90 per cent of their stock under the \u20ac150 threshold, and another, who has set aside \u20ac7-\u20ac10 million for the additional costs associated with the change.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will be tough on Irish consumers at the end of the day,\u201d Finnegan said, noting that they will likely face less choice when shopping online with UK retailers, and higher prices. <\/p>\n

Under the Windsor Framework, the new rules will not affect online trade from Northern Ireland to the Republic. According to Revenue, \u201cthere is no impact on all-island trade\u201d and customs duty is not payable on such trade. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Marks & Spencer has warned that new EU customs rules, which will impose a charge of \u20ac3 on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":543542,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[73],"tags":[79,18,4893,19,17,57166,954,3439,1294,23938],"class_list":["post-543541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-eire","tag-eu","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-marks-spencer-ms","tag-northern-ireland","tag-retail","tag-uk","tag-windsor-framework"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116777005053871215","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=543541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543541\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/543542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=543541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=543541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=543541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}