By
Reuters
Printed
February 3, 2025
The European Union will enhance customs checks on items shipped straight by e-commerce retailers like Temu and Shein to EU customers because it seeks to make sure honest competitors and product security, in accordance with a draft of an official communication seen by Reuters on Monday.
The directive from the European Fee, anticipated to be revealed on Wednesday, will have an effect on all non-EU ecommerce retailers though it particularly addresses the fast progress of Temu, an internet market owned by Chinese language ecommerce big PDD Holdings, and Shein, a fast-fashion retailer based in China however now headquartered in Singapore.
Each retailers have undercut native gamers with ultra-low costs for merchandise made in China, and benefited from an EU legislation giving parcels price lower than €150 ($153.71) duty-free standing, a measure critics say offers them an unfair benefit. Clothes, for instance, is normally topic to a 12% import obligation to enter the EU.
The European Union-wide customs operation will prioritise controls on merchandise purchased on-line that current “significant safety hazards and risks of non-compliance”, the European Fee stated, calling on all member states to take part. The exact record of merchandise will probably be decided in settlement with member states.
In response to the Fee, 91% of all e-commerce shipments into the EU valued underneath €150 final yr got here from China. In complete 4.6 billion low-value shipments arrived within the EU final yr, greater than double the quantity in 2023.
“The surge of these imports shipped directly to consumers raises significant challenges that require urgent attention, in particular where imported products may be dangerous, counterfeit or otherwise do not comply with EU law,” the Fee stated within the draft doc.
Customs dealing with capability on the EU border has additionally not elevated sufficiently to handle this surge in parcels, the Fee stated, calling for “urgent” adoption of its customs reform bundle which might scrap the 150-euro duty-free restrict and create an EU Customs Authority to bolster border capability.
The Fee stated it will work with legislators to frontload to 2026 elements of its deliberate customs reform, particularly the EU Customs Authority and the preparations for a Information Hub for e-commerce, forward of the deliberate 2028 begin date.
The equal “de minimis” rule within the U.S., which permits duty-free entry for parcels underneath $800 in worth, was scrapped for merchandise coming from China, Mexico and Canada, as a part of President Donald Trump’s bundle of tariffs concentrating on these nations introduced on Saturday.
Contents of the draft European Fee doc have been first reported by the Monetary Occasions.
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