Chinese and other non-EU seller marketplaces customs admin charge proposal in response to widespread tax evasion
French Finance officials are again pushing the European Union to impose a customs handling fee on low-value consignments imported from China. Budget and Finance Ministers have said last week that the current rules unfairly favour ‘fast-fashion’ and low-cost e-commerce giants by allowing millions of low-value parcels to enter the EU without full checks or customs charges. France, and other EU member states, believe that marketplaces such as Shein and Temu circumnavigate the current €150 import duty threshold by breaking up sales into small shipments and / or misstating the customs valuation in declarations.
The €150 customs duties threshold is to be scrapped under 2028 EU customs reform proposals. The US $800 de minimis threshold for Chinese imports was withdrawn at the start of May 2025.
Jan 2024: EU reviews customs handling fee
European Commission officials have been reported since the start of this year to be considering a new customs administration levy on platforms for non-EU sourced low-value imports. A potential handling charge framework is likely to be made public on 4th February 2025 with the new Polish Commission in office at the start of January 2025. The move is spurred by complaints from many member states of unfair tax and lax product standards, discussed at the 10 December ECOFIN meeting of EU finance ministers.
The idea of a revenue levy, especially on Chinese sellers or platforms, now seems to have been put aside.
Any levy could be targeted at marketplaces on non-EU sourced goods sold to EU consumers and declared as under the €150 customs exemption threshold. It is believed that there is widespread under declarations of the value of parcels sold on popular sites such as Shein and Temu. Shipments from such sites will top €4 billion this year, and have tripled since 2022.
However, administration charge reported as being considered would likely fall foul of international tax rules and treaties. And would most probably transgress World Trade Organisation rules.
