BRUSSELS — Low-cost packages coming into the EU might be charged a tax of €3 per merchandise from subsequent July, the bloc’s 27 finance ministers agreed on Friday.
The deal successfully ends the tax-free standing for packages price lower than €150.
The flat tax will apply for every totally different sort of merchandise in a package deal. If one package deal accommodates 10 plushy toys, the obligation is utilized as soon as. But when the cargo additionally accommodates a charging cable, one other €3 is added.
The flood of untaxed and sometimes unsafe items prompted the European Fee to suggest a short lived answer for the packages below €150 a month in the past. This “de minimis” rule permits exporters like Shein and Temu to ship merchandise on to shoppers, typically bypassing scrutiny.
The EU has already obtained extra packages within the first 9 months of 2025 than in your complete earlier 12 months, when the counter hit 4.6 billion.
French Finance Minister Roland Lescure known as it “a literal invasion of parcels in Europe final 12 months,” which might have hit “7, 8, 9 billion within the coming years if nothing was completed.”
An EU official instructed POLITICO earlier this month that at some airports, as much as 80 p.c of such packages arriving don’t adjust to EU security guidelines. This creates an enormous workload for customs officers, a rising pile of rubbish, and well being dangers from unsafe toys and kitchen gadgets.
EU international locations have already agreed to formally abolish the de-minimis loophole, however taxing all gadgets primarily based on their precise worth and product sort would require extra information trade. That can solely be potential as soon as an formidable reform of the bloc’s Customs Union, presently below negotiation, is accomplished by 2028. The €3 flat tax is the short-term answer to cowl the interval till then.
The rising recognition of internet outlets like Shein and Temu, which each function out of China is fueling this flood. France suspended entry to Shein’s on-line platform this month.
This €3 EU-wide tax might be distinct from the so-called dealing with payment that France has proposed as part of its nationwide price range to alleviate the prices on customs for coping with the identical flood of packages.
Klara Durand and Camille Gijs contributed to this report.