Newsroom
The European Union is planning to introduce a flat fee on billions of small parcels entering its borders each year, most of them from China.
The European Commission on Monday unveiled a draft proposal to impose a transit charge on packages, responding to pressure from member states whose customs systems have struggled to handle the volume, more than 4.6 billion parcels shipped directly to European consumers annually.
According to a document obtained by the Financial Times, the exact amount of the fee has not been finalized, but sources familiar with the plan said it is likely to be set at about €2 per package.
The revenue would help offset customs processing costs, with a portion also going into the EU budget. The measure could raise billions of euros each year.
EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic has vowed to tackle the surge in parcel traffic, warning that it has been accompanied by a rise in unsafe and non-compliant goods. At the same time, European retailers have criticized what they call unfair competition from e-commerce platforms such as Temu and Shein.
With information from Financial Times.
