Usercentrics

EU Introduces €3 Customs Fee for Non‑EU Orders

From 1 July 2026 the European Union is charging a €3 flat customs duty on imports from non‑EU countries for goods valued up to €150, ending the previous low‑value import exemption. The temporary measure will apply until 1 July 2028; regular duties will resume thereafter based on product type. The rule is intended to level the playing field between non‑EU sellers and EU businesses and to improve consumer protection after EU checks found high rates of non‑compliant or unsafe goods. Member‑state customs and the Commission expect marketplaces and sellers to cover the fee, but analysts and trade bodies warn costs will likely be passed to consumers. Additional measures include mandatory product labelling and stronger traceability from November 2026. The article also references a €200 million EU sanction against Temu under the Digital Services Act as context for tougher enforcement.

OpenAI confirms GPT-5.6 Sol Ultra for Codex

OpenAI has confirmed that its coding agent Codex will receive support for GPT-5.6 Sol Ultra, the highest-performing model in the newly announced GPT-5.6 family (Sol, Terra, Luna). GPT-5.6 Sol is described as the flagship with the company's most robust safety stack, and the rollout has begun in a fragmented way to selected trusted users following a voluntary US government review process tied to a presidential executive order. OpenAI says broader availability via ChatGPT, Codex and the API is planned in the coming weeks. Codex Engineering Lead Thibault Sottiaux confirmed Sol Ultra support on X. OpenAI highlights improved coding performance on TerminalBench 2.1, and Codex — used by millions weekly — may receive dedicated hardware.

Metricool 2026 Instagram Study: Winning Formats Revealed

Metricool published a 2026 Instagram study analyzing 24,364,803 posts from 375,118 accounts (data from Jan–Feb 2025 and Jan–Feb 2026). The report finds platform-wide increases in Views (+26.6%) and Interactions (+19.3%), driven largely by Reels and Carousel posts. Single-image posts lost significant reach and interaction share (roughly -22% reach; >25% interaction loss) and have lower engagement rates (1.99%) than Carousels (3.08%) and Reels (4.30%). Reels show strong growth in engagement and watch time (average watch time rose from 4s to 8.5s; total playback time +139%). Carousels produce far more Saves (nine times vs single images) and outperform similar short-form formats on competing platforms in Views and Interactions. The study also reports that posts using hashtags correlate with lower Views and Interactions, while posts framed as questions drive ~36.7% more comments. Stories remain valuable for community replies (replies +88%).