The European Union plans to tighten regulation of Asian online stores Temu and Shein. The European Commission is considering introducing a new tax on digital commerce and an administrative fee for processing each shipment. This was reported by the Financial Times.

European Commissioner for Trade Maroš Šefčovič said that this year the EU received about 4 billion parcels, almost three times more than in 2022. Most of them do not exceed the customs threshold of 150 euros, so they are not inspected, which contributes to the growth of imports of dangerous goods, including toxic toys.

Online retailers in Europe are unable to compete with the Chinese giants due to the need to comply with EU standards. This entails higher production costs and thus higher prices for goods.

The European executive has proposed to abolish the €150 threshold below which parcels are exempt from customs duties. However, this could further overwhelm customs services that are already operating at capacity. For example, Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport and the Port of Rotterdam together handle 3.5 million parcels daily, which equates to 40 parcels per second.

The amount of the administrative processing fee has not yet been determined, but it will apply to all online stores that deliver goods to the EU from countries outside the union. For example, the US-based Amazon will not be subject to these measures, as it works with sellers based in Europe.

A tax on the income of e-commerce platforms, which will apply to EU and foreign companies, will need to be approved by the 27 member states of the bloc. Experts believe that this could hinder the digitalization of European business.

“Ecommerce will be a key priority of the new commission’s mandate, specifically strengthening measures to prevent non-compliant products from entering the EU market,” a Commission spokesperson said.

Chinese platforms Temu and Shein responded and said they would support the European Commission’s changes.