“It will be extremely difficult to explain to our business and citizens why the European Union cannot act faster to provide a solution to an issue we agree on — to remove this competitive advantage,” he wrote.
To accelerate the change, the commissioner is proposing an EU-wide “simplified temporary customs fee and a better link of IT tools.” Separately, France announced last month that it would impose a national handling fee on small parcels.
The proposed customs fee is a distinct measure to levy charges on all packages once the €150 threshold has been abolished. An EU diplomat explained that removing the threshold would create the need to tariff some 5,000 products from one day to the next.
Swedish Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson told POLITICO that “free trade doesn’t mean you get to flood the market with whatever garbage you feel like selling,” adding that the Commission push “feels feels like a major win. We’ve seen how companies have been exploiting the system.”
The EU received over 4 billion packages officially worth under €150 in 2024, many of which did not comply with European product safety standards or were actually worth more than their declared value. The rising popularity of web shops like Shein and Temu from China fuels this flood, with France deciding to suspend access to Shein’s online platform this month.
“We have already received more packages this year than in the entirety of 2024, with Black Friday and Christmas still coming,” said Dutch MEP Dirk Gotink, the lead negotiator for the EU’s customs reform. “The exemption needs to be scrapped as soon as possible. It’s old-fashioned.”