In a joint letter posted online on Tuesday 16 September, twenty-three textile and clothing industry federations and associations address the European Commission, calling for “urgent action” against ‘ultra-fast’ fashion and its environmental and economic consequences.
Worried by the exponential growth in orders from online platforms such as Shein, Temu and AliExpress, which are accused of flooding the European market with non-compliant, dangerous and polluting products, the signatories call on the Commission to use all its legislative arsenal to contain “the unbearable pressure on European businesses”.
The federations believe that the Commission must implement the reform of the European Customs Code (see EUROPE 13664/15), strengthen controls and sanctions through the Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act (DSA/DMA) and require that online trading platforms be held legally responsible for any problematic products entering the EU.
Above all, the signatories are demanding an end to “the exemption from customs duties for parcels of less than €150”, a measure that particularly benefits Chinese e-commerce giants, who send millions of these small parcels to the EU (see EUROPE 13664/15).
They are also in favour of introducing a tax per parcel, as proposed by the Commission (see EUROPE 13572/5) and MEPs (see EUROPE 13677/10).
These demands are supported by the representative body EURATEX (the European Apparel and Textile Confederation) and by numerous federations in several Member States (France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Greece, Switzerland, Belgium, Portugal, etc.).
See the letter: https://aeur.eu/f/igi (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)