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The European Union (EU) is considering introducing a processing fee for e-commerce imports in response to soaring imports of online parcels.
As part of the trading bloc’s Single Market Strategy revealed earlier this week, the EU will look at how it can make intra-European trade more competitive.
This includes making sure that products being imported from outside the bloc meet the same standards as those faced by EU member states.
At the moment, market surveillance authorities are based at a country or even regional level and are faced with the task of ensuring that the 4.6bn low-value e-commerce parcels imported into the EU last year meet relevant standards.
To tackle this, the EU is considering introducing a market-wide surveillance authority to monitor low-value e-commerce shipments.
Under the proposals, the EU will also scrap the current duty-free allowance of €150 and introduce a €2 handling fee for all packages ordered online and delivered directly to the customer to cover the cost of ensuring compliance.
Parcels that are handled via an EU warehouse would face a fee of €0.50.
The proposal will need to be discussed by European governments and the European Parliament.
"The sheer volume of products entering the European Market from the outside world makes it impossible to ensure full compliance via customs and market surveillance checks,” the strategy documents state.
"Customs authorities, the first line of defence at the border, are overwhelmed – particularly by e-commerce imports, which represent 97% of all customs declarations."
It added: "The exploding volume of products entering from third countries that are unsafe, counterfeit or non-compliant can lead to serious safety and health risks for consumers, has a negative impact on the environment and puts legitimate businesses at a disadvantage."
The EU said that 100% of the products examined from one e-commerce platform were found to be non-compliant.
"The current market surveillance system lacks the resources and expertise and is too structurally fragmented to effectively tackle these challenges."
E-commerce imports into the European Union have surged over the past few years. The 4.6bn parcels imported last year is almost twice the 2.4bn recorded in 2023 and more than triple the 1.4bn brought in during 2022.
The UK is also considering stricter rules for e-commerce imports, while the US has already scrapped its tariff exemption for e-commerce goods from China and Hong Kong.
