European Union ministers on Thursday approved a plan to abolish duty-free status for low-value parcels, aligning the bloc with the United States and disrupting a key mechanism used by e-commerce platforms to ship inexpensive cross-border orders directly to consumers.

The agreement would end the €150 customs exemption—roughly $174—starting in 2028, contingent on the successful rollout of a centralized EU customs data hub designed to replace the bloc’s patchwork of national clearance systems. The new online portal will be capable of calculating and transmitting customs duties on a per-item basis for all packages entering the EU.