The EU on Tuesday said it is preparing to impose a two-euro ($2.25) flat fee on the billions of low-value packages that flood into the bloc each year, the great majority from China.
Trade chief Maros Sefcovic told the European Parliament that e-commerce platforms would be expected to pay the fee per parcel, which aims to help the European Union tackle the challenges from the massive influx of cheap items.
The fee would remove the customs-free status of packages worth less than 150 euros that are imported directly to consumers, often via platforms like Chinese-founded Temu and Shein.
In 2024, 4.6 billion such packages entered the EU — more than 145 per second — with 91 percent originating in China. The EU expects the numbers to rise.
Sefcovic said the figure represents a “completely new challenge to the control, to the safety, to making sure that the standards are properly checked of the products which are shipped to the European Union”.
He pointed to the “huge” workload for customs officials, “therefore I wouldn’t look at the handling fee as a tax, simply the fee to compensate the cost”.
Brussels also hopes part of the revenues from the fee will go towards the EU budget.