In February, the European Commission presented its action plan to combat the flood of small parcels from Chinese sales platforms (see EUROPE 13572/5), many of which are dangerous for consumers. On Tuesday 29 April, France decided to take the lead in stemming the tide.
The government plans to introduce a handling fee for each parcel, a tax to be paid by sellers and platforms.
This initiative echoes the Commission’s proposal to introduce “a non-discriminatory handling fee on e-commerce items”, which would be “proportional” to the value of the item in question and would “offset” the increased costs of customs controls.
The French government said that discussions were already underway with the Netherlands and with the new German government.
While waiting for the reform of the European customs code to be put in place, France wants to push the EU to adopt a transitional measure to anticipate possible dumping effects caused by American customs duties.
The Commission, for its part, plans to build on the reform of the European Customs Code and is considering abolishing the exemption from customs duties on small parcels under €150, which account for almost all parcels entering Europe from platforms such as Shein and Temu (see EUROPE 13623/11). (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)