“I am pleased to confirm that we have reached a political agreement on the elimination of the current customs duty exemption threshold of 150 euros. The elimination of this exemption threshold guarantees that customs duties will be charged from the first euro on all goods entering the EU, just like Value Added Tax”, announced the Danish Minister of Economy, Stephanie Lose, representing the current Council Presidency held by Denmark.
This endorsement by EU finance ministers at a meeting in Brussels — which was attended by the Portuguese supervisor, Joaquim Miranda Sarmento — comes in response to “the large volume of low-cost goods imported from third countries, particularly Asia and China”, particularly from e-commerce ‘giants’, such as Temu, Shein and AliExpress, added Stephanie Lose.
“The end of the exemption will address long-standing loopholes that have been systematically exploited to avoid paying customs duties, for example through undervaluing goods or splitting shipments to keep the value below the previous threshold. This change will also create fairer and more level playing fields between European companies that pay customs duties on all imports and non-EU companies that sell low-value goods directly to European consumers without paying customs duties,” he said. the Danish minister.
The new rule will come into force as soon as the EU customs data center – the EU’s proposed central platform for interacting with customs and strengthening controls – is operational, that is, by 2028 at the latest.
Due to the scale of the problem, the EU Council called for a simple and temporary solution to collect customs duties on these goods as early as next year, for rapid implementation, while providing the time needed to develop the customs data center needed for the new system.
European companies, in particular retailers, have repeatedly highlighted the need to eliminate this distortion of competition.
The measure now agreed therefore aims to guarantee fair competition with European retailers, reduce the enormous volume of small orders (which were around 4.6 billion in 2024, 91% of which come from China), reinforce control of non-compliant products and cover customs costs.
Currently, many of these orders enter the EU without paying duties and without adequate safety, environmental or quality controls.
The European Commission therefore wants to eliminate the exemption threshold and introduce a fee of around two euros per order, hoping to be able to do so from 2026.
ANE // MSF