EU ministers agree faster crackdown on China parcels that could hit Shein, Temu

By Philip Blenkinsop and Helen Reid

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -European finance ministers agreed on Thursday to bring forward to next year customs duties on low-value parcels arriving in the bloc to crack down on cheap Chinese e-commerce imports, in a move set to hit Chinese online retailers Shein and Temu.

The agreement to introduce duties as soon as possible in 2026 by finance ministers meeting in Brussels sets up negotiations with the European Parliament, whose approval is also required.

The European Union is trying to act faster as concern grows over Chinese goods being dumped in Europe.

European Commissioner for Trade Maros Sefcovic had proposed to the ministers that the "de minimis" duties exemption for online purchases below 150 euros ($175) be removed in the first quarter of 2026, two years earlier than planned. It should be replaced with a "simplified temporary customs fee", he said.

In 2023, the European Commission proposed removing the exemption, but only from 2028, when a broader overhaul of the EU's customs regime is due to take effect and the de minimis exemption will more formally be abolished.

Online platforms like Shein, Temu, AliExpress and Amazon Haul send clothes, accessories and gadgets from Chinese factories directly to shoppers at rock-bottom prices thanks to the customs waiver.

"European industries, particularly retailers, have repeatedly underlined that this distortion of competition be removed without delay," Sefcovic wrote.

The agreement was welcomed across Europe.

"Ending the exemption will close long-standing loopholes that have been systematically been exploited to avoid customs duties," Denmark's economy minister Stephanie Lose told a news conference.

German online retailer Zalando, among those pushing the EU to act, said in a statement that the removal of the exemption should be fast-tracked.

Sweden's retail industry association and Germany's e-commerce association separately said the finance ministers' agreement was a first step towards making competition more fair.

Luca Sburlati, chairman of Italy's fashion lobby Confindustria Moda, said the taxation of parcels under 150 euros is "essential for the survival of our textile and clothing sector".

MOVE TO HIT SHEIN, TEMU

Shein declined to comment, while Temu, AliExpress, and Amazon did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Shein is facing legal proceedings in France over the sale of child-like sex dolls on its platform.

The number of low-value e-commerce packages arriving in the bloc doubled last year to 4.6 billion, over 90% of them from China, and the Commission, the bloc's executive arm, is facing pressure from EU companies to stem that flow more quickly.

"We've already received more parcels than in the entire year of 2024, and Black Friday and Christmas are just around the corner," EU lawmaker Dirk Gotink, chief negotiator on the new customs legislation, said in a statement.

The U.S. has scrapped its own "de minimis" policy that allowed duty-free entry to parcels worth less than $800, leading to concerns that cheap Chinese imports would divert more to Europe.

There is also added urgency as individual EU countries have moved to introduce national handling fees.

Romania has proposed a 25 lei ($5.73) fee on low-value packages, while Italy is working on a tax by the end of the year to protect its fashion industry, its industry minister said on Wednesday.

RETAILERS WARN AGAINST ASSORTMENT OF NATIONAL FEES

European retailers and wholesalers' lobby group EuroCommerce have warned that an assortment of different national fees risks undermining the EU single market. The Commission has proposed a 2 euro fee, but it is not clear when it would be imposed.

How effective such a fee would be in practice is also unclear.

"Usually the market readjusts ... One or two euros will not really change the attractiveness of those platforms," the CEO of Poste Italiane, a state-backed business handling millions of parcels a year, said on Thursday.

French retail association president Alexandre Bompard, who also heads up supermarket group Carrefour, said in July that a 2 euro fee on low-value parcels was "a joke".

($1 = 0.8575 euros; 4.3595 lei)

(Reporting by Jan Strupczewski, Inti Landauro in Brussels, Helen Reid in London, Angeliki Koutatou in Athens, Greta Rosen Fondahn in Stockholm, Elisa Anzolin and Elvira Pollina in Milan. Writing by Philip Blenkinsop and Helen Reid. Editing by Conor Humphries, Ed Osmond and Mark Potter)