It marks a notable reversal from just a few months ago, when the previous caretaker Schoof I Cabinet moved quickly to announce the fee. The plan was to charge €2 per order line on incoming Chinese parcels, which would have made the average order roughly €6 more expensive for Dutch consumers.

How the Plan Unraveled
The urgency behind the original proposal had a clear trigger.

Several neighboring countries — Belgium, France, and Luxembourg — had announced their own parcel taxes around the same time, and the Dutch government grew concerned about the knock-on effect. If those countries made it harder to receive packages from China, there was a real risk that online retailers would simply reroute shipments through the Netherlands instead, flooding Dutch customs with an even greater volume of parcels. Dutch customs services were already under pressure, and the government feared the situation could spiral.



That concern, however, lost much of its weight when most of those neighbors stepped back from their own plans. In the end, France was the only country that actually followed through and introduced a national parcel tax. Belgium and Luxembourg chose to hold off, waiting for Europe to move first.

With the threat of being used as a transit hub significantly reduced, the Dutch rationale for rushing ahead weakened considerably.

Waiting on Europe
There is another reason the.