THE EU IS preparing to impose a €2 flat fee on the billions of low-value packages that flood into the bloc each year, the great majority from China.

Trade chief Maros Sefcovic told the European Parliament yesterday that e-commerce platforms would be expected to pay the levy per parcel, which aims to help the European Union tackle the challenges from the massive influx of inexpensive items.

The fee would remove the customs-free status of packages worth less than €150 that are imported directly to consumers, often via platforms like Chinese-founded Temu and Shein.

Parcels sent directly to warehouses where they are stored in the EU would face a lower fee of 50 cents, Sefcovic said.

Last year, 4.6 billion such small packages entered the EU – more than 145 per second – with 91% originating in China. The EU expects the numbers to rise.

Platforms, including Shein and Temu, are suspected by Brussels of not doing enough to prevent the sale of products that do not meet European standards.

The EU also fears that many of the products imported into the 27-country bloc are unsafe, counterfeit and potentially even dangerous to consumers.

Sefcovic said the figure represented a “completely new challenge to the control, to the safety, to making sure that the standards are properly checked of the products which are shipped to the European Union”.

European retailers say they face unfair competition from overseas platforms, which they claim do not often comply with the EU’s stringent rules on products.

‘Fast fashion wave’

It comes as the government here launches a public consultation on tackling fast fashion and the environmental degradation caused by textile waste.

Proposals include measures to make textiles last longer, to make them easier to recycle, alongside better labelling through mandatory EU laws on eco-design.

It also contains measures to apply the “polluter pays principle” which will make the fashion industry responsible for its textile waste.

Alan Dillon, Minister of State for Small Business and Retail and Circular Economy.

He warned that the textiles industry operates in a “take-make-waste” model but that “there is great potential for a textiles circular economy”.

He noted that textiles, including clothing, have the fourth highest impact on the environment and climate change, after food, housing, and transport.

The draft National Policy Statement and Roadmap sets out a policy direction for Ireland regarding textiles.

Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Dillon called on the public to “think about the amount of clothes we purchase and how long we wear them, and how we dispose of them”.

He said that 65% of used textiles are not separately collected but are disposed of as waste or treated mainly in landfill or go to incineration.

Dillon warned that “we are producing, consuming and dumping clothes and textiles in a completely insane manner”.

“We’re developing a national plan around that because the quantity of textiles we’re consuming in Ireland is growing each year,” said Dillon.

“We want to ensure that we improve the collection infrastructure.

“That means the textile industry will provide funding for the collection of used textiles.

“I think we need to look at our environmental requirements to try and curb the fast fashion wave that’s currently hitting not just Ireland, but across the globe.”

The public consultation opens today and will close on Monday, 7 July.

Meanwhile, Dillon said that the EU proposal for a €2 flat fee on small parcels would lead to a reduction in the volume of textiles being bought by Irish consumers outside the EU.

He added: “An economic assessment needs to be looked at with the view to establish is the amount enough to discourage Irish consumers to continue to buy packages for outside the EU.”

However, he said he was unsure if a €2 fee would be “enough to discourage Irish consumers who continue to buy packages from outside the EU”.

Dillon added that €2 “isn’t a significant amount” and that the fee needs to be “assessed, as well as the impact of such a proposal on the economy as a whole”.

‘Compensate cost’

Meanwhile, Sefcovic noted the “huge” workload for customs officials by the €2 flat fee proposal.

“Therefore I wouldn’t look at the handling fee as a tax, simply the fee to compensate the cost,” he said. 

Brussels also hopes part of the revenues from the fee will go towards the EU budget.

Paris is especially concerned about the issue: around 800 million such packages were shipped to France alone last year.

Last month, France said it wanted to start charging non-EU online sellers a handling fee per package until 2028 — after which the EU is expected to phase out the customs-free status.

Shein and Temu did not immediately respond to AFP requests for comment.

The United States ended tariff exemptions earlier this month for goods shipped from China worth less than $800, which are to face a levy of 54%.

-With additional reporting from © AFP 2025