The European Commission has announced a series of measures to address the risks arising from the imports of low-value and sometimes low-quality products from countries outside the EU through online platforms, such as Temu and Shein, including through actions such as the implementation of targeted regulations and controls at customs and the faster implementation of measures already being promoted.
The package of measures was presented by Commission Vice-President for Technology Henna Virkunen, Commissioner for Trade Maroš Šefčovič, and Commissioner for Consumer Protection Michael McGrath.
Speaking about the rapid increase in imports into the EU via the internet, Ms. Virkunen pointed out that many of these products are often found to be of lower quality or harmful to health.
The package of measures announced by the Commission, with the general title "A comprehensive EU toolbox for safe and sustainable e-commerce", should be promoted in cooperation with the Member States, the Council and the Parliament, with the Commission planning to proceed with an evaluation of the measures within the year, as well as to examine whether the issues can be addressed through the regulations already in place.
“Our customs authorities are our eyes at the borders, so we should equip them with the appropriate means to strengthen our enforcement capabilities,” Mr. Šefčovič noted in a written statement, adding that the reform of the Customs Union proposed by the Commission in 2023 “is planned to abolish the duty exemption for low-value parcels, as well as to strengthen control through a proposed EU Customs Authority and an EU customs data hub.”
As noted in a Commission announcement, in 2024, low-value packages (defined as a value not higher than 22 euros) entered the EU market with a total value of 4,6 billion euros, or 12 million parcels per day, a number double compared to 2023 and triple compared to 2022.
This large increase is causing concern for the Commission, as many of these goods were found to be non-compliant with EU legislation, which also affects European sellers who comply with European standards and are therefore affected by unfair practices and the sale of counterfeit goods.
Among the measures listed and proposed, there is the rapid adoption and implementation of measures already foreseen in the proposed revision of the customs union, such as the abolition of duty exemption for low-value parcels worth less than €150, and the strengthening of control capabilities, such as better data exchange and risk assessment.
Targeted measures are also proposed for imported goods, such as coordinated controls by different customs and market surveillance authorities, as well as coordinated actions on product safety with the aim of removing non-compliant products from the market and collecting evidence to feed into risk analysis and complementary actions. Future controls will also be intensified for certain operators, goods or trade flows, on a rolling basis, based on risk analysis. The higher the rate of non-compliance, the higher the level of vigilance should be, while sanctions should reflect cases of systematic non-compliance.
The package also refers to consumer protection tools in e-commerce, including the Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act, as well as legislation that applies more generally to all traders. It also refers to the use of digital tools, which can help facilitate the supervision of e-commerce through the digital product passport and new artificial intelligence tools to identify potentially non-compliant products.
Source: KYPE
