Belgium backs EU proposal for 2 euro import fee on small parcels
Belgium supports a proposal by European Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic to charge 2 euros for every small parcel entering the EU, Economy minister David Clarinval said at the EU Competitiveness Council in Brussels on Thursday.
Sefcovic put forward the idea in the European Parliament on Tuesday. He proposed charging platforms a levy for every parcels they send to the EU worth 150 euros or less. Last year, 4.6 billion of these parcels entered the bloc, mainly from China, and were exempt from customs duties.
He argued that these packages create a huge workload for customs staff and prevent them from checking whether they adhere to EU safety and quality standards. He proposes a 2 euro fee for packages sent directly to consumers and a 50c fee for those sent to warehouses as compensation. Online marketplaces such as Temu and Shein would pay the fees.
On Thursday, European ministers met in Brussels for the EU Competitiveness Council to discuss how to make the bloc’s policies more business-friendly.
Belgium's Clarinval said that with the import tariffs introduced by US president Donald Trump, international trade was under pressure, and that China could redirect much of its trade from the US to the EU. The bloc could then "fall victim to an invasion of all these parcels".
He added that such parcels currently constitute unfair competition for European companies. A fee would "protect our companies from unfair competition and, in particular, from the destabilisation of international trade caused by Trump's tariffs", he said.
The Commission did not provide further details or a timeline regarding the proposal on Thursday.
© BELGA PHOTO HATIM KAGHAT
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