Customs Duty on Japanese Cosmetics and Supplements: Thresholds by Country (2026)

Every cross-border order has a threshold beneath which customs waves it through and above which a bill appears. That threshold — the de minimis value — is the single number that determines whether your parcel from Japan arrives clean or arrives with a demand for payment.

The thresholds moved sharply in 2025 and 2026, and in one major market the concept was abolished entirely. If you are working from advice written before 2025, it is wrong.

The United States: de minimis is gone

This is the change that matters most, and it is still not widely understood.

For years the United States allowed shipments valued at USD 800 or less to enter duty-free. That exemption was suspended by executive order on 30 July 2025, effective 29 August 2025, and made indefinite by regulation on 24 June 2026, with a statutory repeal following in July 2027.

It is not coming back.

What that means for a parcel from Japan:

• Every shipment now attracts duty based on the country of origin and the HTS classification of the contents, regardless of value.
• Until 28 February 2026, postal shipments could use a flat per-package duty of USD 80–200 instead of a percentage.
• From 28 February 2026, postal shipments moved to the standard ad valorem method, calculated on proper classification and declared value.

A USD 40 order of Japanese skincare that would have cleared free in 2024 now carries duty. Budget for it.

Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan: the EAEU threshold

Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan are members of the Eurasian Economic Union, which operates as a single customs territory alongside Russia, Belarus and Armenia. One rule applies across all of them.

• De minimis: EUR 200 per consignment, with a weight limit of 31 kg.
• Below that, goods for personal use sent by international mail clear without duty.
• Above it, duty is 5% of the value, with a floor of EUR 1 per kilogram.

The EAEU halved its personal-use allowances from 1 April, returning them to the 200–500 euro band, and further e-commerce rules take effect across the union on 1 July 2026. If your order sits close to the line, check the current figure before you buy rather than after.

For most single-item cosmetics orders, EUR 200 is generous. A multi-item supplement order can reach it faster than expected, particularly once shipping is included in the declared value.

Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan is not an EAEU member and sets its own rules. The USD 800 exemption that previously applied has been abolished, so the practical position is closer to the US than to its EAEU neighbours: expect assessment rather than automatic clearance.

What customs actually looks at

Three fields on the CN22 decide your bill:

1. Declared value. Whether shipping is included varies by country; assume it is.
2. HS tariff code. The six-digit international classification. Skin care is generally 3304.99, lip products 3304.10, eye makeup 3304.20, shampoo 3305.10, oral care 3306.10, soap 3401.11, and finished supplements in capsule, tablet or powder form 2106.90.
3. Content type. 贈物 (gift), 商用物品 (commercial, B2B), ネット販売品 (goods sold online), or 書類 (documents).

A retail order is ネット販売品. Declaring it as a gift to duck the threshold is misdeclaration — it is also self-defeating, because an understated value caps what you can claim if the parcel goes missing.

Who pays, and when

Two models exist, and which one you meet depends on the retailer.

Delivered Duty Unpaid (DDU) is the default for most postal shipping. The parcel arrives, the carrier or postal service assesses it, and you pay before it is released. This is why a parcel sometimes sits at a local depot with a payment request — nothing has gone wrong, the bill simply has not been settled.

Delivered Duty Paid (DDP) means the retailer collects an estimate at checkout and settles with customs on your behalf. More predictable, sometimes more expensive if the estimate is conservative, but no surprise at the door.

Neither is inherently better. What matters is knowing which one you agreed to, because under DDU the checkout total is not the final cost.

VAT is separate from duty

Duty and VAT are different taxes and different thresholds. A parcel can clear duty-free and still attract VAT — this is common across Europe, where the duty threshold and the VAT threshold have not aligned since 2021.

For the EAEU markets the practical position is simpler: below EUR 200 a personal-use consignment generally clears without either. Above it, expect both to be assessed.

Practical guidance

• Order below the threshold where one exists. For Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, keeping a consignment under EUR 200 — including shipping — is the difference between a clean delivery and a 5% bill.
• Split large orders across shipments rather than sending one consignment over the line. Note the weight limit applies per consignment too, and each shipment carries its own postage.
• For the US, assume duty applies. There is no threshold left to stay under, and the flat-rate postal option ended in February 2026.
• Keep the declaration accurate. An understated value is misdeclaration, and it caps what you can claim if the parcel is lost — so it fails on its own terms even setting the legal question aside.
• Check before you buy, not after. Thresholds changed twice in eighteen months, and the EAEU rules change again on 1 July 2026.

None of this is exotic. It is the same arithmetic every cross-border shopper does, and the numbers above are the current ones.