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Brussels is drawing up plans to impose customs duties on cheap goods bought from Chinese online retailers including Temu and Shein in an effort to stem a surge in what the EU says are substandard items coming from China.
The European Commission later this month will suggest scrapping a current €150 threshold under which items can be bought duty free, three people briefed on the matter told the Financial Times. The main platforms being targeted were China’s online marketplaces Temu and AliExpress and clothing retailer Shein, one official said.
Last year, 2.3bn items below the duty-free €150 threshold were imported into the EU, according to the commission. Ecommerce imports have more than doubled year on year, topping 350,000 items in April — or almost two deliveries per household, commission data shows.
China benefits from subsidised postage costs, meaning it is cost-effective to send cheap goods by air.
The provisions would apply to any online retailer shipping to EU customers directly from outside the bloc. US-based Amazon typically uses sellers based in Europe.
Another possible measure would be to make it compulsory for large platforms to register for VAT payments online, no matter their value.
Since 2021, packages sent to EU consumers already pay VAT regardless of their value, but they are duty free.
The options will be put forward in preparation for the new commission, which will take office later this year.
The commission already proposed scrapping the duty threshold last year, but it could now seek to speed up its adoption to counter the surge of cheap imports, one EU official said.
However, another official cautioned that getting EU countries to agree could be difficult, given that the new regime would increase the workload of already overstretched customs officials.
The number of dangerous products reported by EU countries jumped more than 50 per cent from 2022 to 2023 to more than 3,400. Cosmetics, toys, electrical appliances and clothes were among the products with the most safety issues.
The EU toy industry has accused Chinese retailers of shipping dangerous toys to Europe. Toy Industries of Europe, an industry group, said in February it bought 19 toys from Temu and found that none complied with EU standards, while 18 presented a real safety risk for children.
Temu said that “all 19 product listings are no longer available on our EU website”. It added that “product safety is of paramount concern to us and we have strengthened the monitoring of this product group and its associated requirements”.
Christel Delberghe, director-general of EuroCommerce, a retail lobby group, said: “We want an EU-level playing field in online retail for all players targeting EU-based consumers, no matter where they are established.”
She said existing legislation was sufficient but it needed “an effective and efficient cross-border enforcement strategy”.
Temu said its growth was not dependent on cheap items and that “we are open to and supportive of any policy adjustments made by legislators that align with consumer interests” as long as these policies were fair.
AliExpress said it was “working with the legislators” to “make sure we were, are and continuously will be in a compliant position in the EU market”. Shein also said it was “fully supportive” of efforts to reform customs duties.