The European Commission intends to abolish the €150 threshold below which imported goods are exempt from customs duties.
It is noted that this is aimed at stopping the surge of what the EU calls low-quality goods that come from China.
The main platforms targeted by these measures are Chinese online marketplaces Temu and AliExpress, as well as clothing retailer Shein.
According to the European Commission, 2.3 billion goods worth below the €150 duty-free threshold were imported into the EU last year.
Imports of e-commerce goods more than doubled year-on-year, topping 350,000 items in April – or almost two deliveries per household.
The provisions will apply to any online retailer that delivers goods to EU customers directly from outside the bloc. US-based Amazon typically uses sellers based in Europe.
Another possible measure could be to make it compulsory for large platforms to register for VAT online, regardless of their value.
From 2021, parcels sent to EU companies already pay VAT regardless of their value, but they are not subject to duty.
It is reported that it may be difficult to reach agreement among EU countries, given that the new regime will increase the workload of customs officials who are already overworked.
The number of dangerous products from China, reported by EU countries, increased by more than 50% from 2022 to 2023 – to more than 3.4 thousand items.
Cosmetics, toys, electrical appliances and clothing were among the products with the most safety problems.
More than 1.4 billion parcels worth $66 billion are expected to fall under the U.S. tax exclusion this year, up from 500 million parcels in 2019.
