Brussels finally notices the parcel flood

For once, Brussels has done something that looks less like a seminar and more like a policy. As of July 1, a flat €3 customs duty applies to low-value e-commerce imports, ending the easy ride long enjoyed by parcels under €150. The target is obvious: the flood of cheap goods from platforms such as SHEIN, Temu and AliExpress, which had turned a customs loophole into a business model.

The European Council says the move is meant to tackle unfair competition, unsafe products, fraud and the environmental damage caused by mountains of low-cost imports. That is a fairly long list, but the underlying problem is simple enough. The EU receives more than two billion e-commerce packages below the old threshold every year, and up to 65 per cent arrive with misdeclared values or unverified safety profiles. Customs checks, predictably, are nowhere near up to the task. One consumer group estimates that only 0.006 per cent of parcels are inspected. That is less a border regime than a polite suggestion.

For years, the so-called de minimis rule allowed foreign sellers to route individual orders directly from China without paying customs duties. That saved them up to 12 per cent in import charges and gave them a price edge European retailers could not match, especially when domestic clothing makers face structural costs of 30 to 50 per cent per garment. The result was not market efficiency, despite the usual Brussels vocabulary. It was tax avoidance on an industrial scale, as one MEP put it, with billions in untaxed retail revenue flowing into Chinese logistics.

The complaints were not only about unfair pricing. Consumer groups found that around 70 per cent of tested products did not fully comply with EU safety requirements. Greenpeace Germany reported illegal concentrations of hazardous substances in apparel, including heavy metals, formaldehyde and PFAS, with some jackets far above the legal threshold. Toys and children's clothing also raised choking hazards. The cheerful logic of ultra-fast fashion, it turns out, works best when someone else bears the risk.

The new duty is only part of the correction. Under a reform that took effect on March 26, digital marketplaces are now treated as deemed importers rather than mere intermediaries. That matters because the old system left consumers legally exposed if a product was unsafe. Platforms now carry liability under EU product safety law, including responsibility for testing and certification. A broader customs overhaul agreed in November 2025 will eventually go further, with a permanent data hub due in 2028 and the €150 threshold removed entirely.

For shoppers, the change means higher prices and slower deliveries. A modest basket can quickly become less modest: two €10 items can attract €6 in duties, and with a planned €2 handling fee the bill rises sharply. For companies, the choice is equally plain. Absorb the cost, shift to EU warehouses, or watch price-sensitive customers drift away. For European retailers, meanwhile, the playing field is at least a little less tilted. After years of pretending that a loophole was a consumer convenience, the EU has finally admitted that borders still exist — and that laws are not supposed to stop at the checkout page.

Written by Martina Kirchner martina.kirchner@alpineweekly.com