The European Union (EU) regime has announced it will introduce handling fees for small packages arriving from outside the bloc starting November 1. This fee will be charged in addition to a customs tax on such items that goes into effect in July. The EU Parliament and the European Council on Thursday voted to introduce the handling fees, with the European Commission required to set the amount, which is likely to be around €2 ($2.30) per package.

The move comes largely in response to the flood of items arriving in Europe from cheap Chinese online platforms such as Shein, Temu, and AliExpress, but also from Amazon. The EU regime claims that 5.9 million such packages entered the bloc in 2025, with 90% of them originating in China. Another issue that purportedly prompted the move is the fact that the sheer volume of packages arriving in the EU means customs officials have little chance of thoroughly inspecting each one.

Consumer rights groups, for instance, allege that more than 90% of items on offer at discount Chinese platforms contain hazardous chemicals that are illegal in the EU. The new fee approved on Thursday will be used in part to hire more customs agents. Beyond greenlighting the new handling fee, European lawmakers also set fines for companies found guilty of violating EU safety regulations.

These measures, which will go into effect in 2028, mean financial penalties equal to as much as 6% of all revenue generated by a company's annual exports to the bloc can be charged if they are proven to have exported dangerous materials to the EU. The European consumer organization BEUC welcomed the move, citing the threat posed by hazardous items entering the EU, with the group highlighting deadly toys that pose choking hazards to children as well as "textiles drenched in banned chemicals."

Consumer rights groups say that additionally, EU customers have increasingly complained of the poor quality of products from the Chinese sites as well as hard to understand rules for returning packages. The German Trade Association (HDE) estimates that platforms Shein and Temu alone send some 400,000 packages to customers in Germany each day, accounting for between €2.7 and €3.3 billion in revenues in 2024. HDE data suggests that more than 14 million Germans purchased items from the platforms in 2025.

Source: www.dw.com