The EU will hit Shein and Temu. And as usual, Europeans will pay

Finance ministers of European Union countries agreed on Thursday to introduce customs duties on low-value shipments entering the EU in 2026, and not – as originally planned – in 2028. The decision will hit Chinese online sellers such as Shein and Temu, Reuters said.

On Thursday, EU finance ministers talked in Brussels, among others: on EU customs policy. As Trade Commissioner Marosz Shefczovicz told journalists, the discussion on the EU customs reform, and specifically on new regulations on e-commerce imports, was constructive. The idea is to abolish the duty exemption for low-value shipments.

Currently, parcels worth less than EUR 150 are free of duty when sent to the EU. The EU originally planned to abolish the EUR 150 threshold only in 2028. Following the decision of the Finance Ministers, this would happen two years earlier. The exact date is currently unknown.

– Reaching a political agreement to abolish the current tariff threshold of €150 sends a clear signal that Europe is serious about fair competition and defending the interests of its businesses. I very much welcome the support expressed by ministers, as European business, and in particular retailers, have repeatedly emphasized the need to immediately remove this distortion of competition, said Gwiazdczovicz.

In July, EU Commissioner for Consumer Protection Michael McGrath expressed deep concern at the huge number of small parcels arriving into the EU every day, mainly from China. He pointed to threats to consumer safety and fair competition towards European companies.

“The number of small parcels imported into the EU has exploded,” McGrath told European Newsroom in Brussels. He added that in 2023, as many as 4.6 billion such parcels reached the EU, i.e. an average of 12 million a day. – Such a scale would burden each system to its limits – he noted.

Over 90 percent these parcels come from China and are shipped via e-commerce platforms such as Shein and Temu. As McGrath pointed out, they often contain dangerous products that do not comply with EU standards.

From Brussels Łukasz Osiński (PAP)

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