News / Removing de minimis no 'silver bullet' as ecommerce traffic floods into EU

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As the EC mulls custom reform, European stakeholders suggest abolishing the de minimis limit for import duty would not be “the silver bullet” that will solve the complex issues arising from the surge of low-value ecommerce traffic. 

In a Transport Intelligence (Ti) report, analyst Richard Shrubb noted that a recent spike in packages had “raised eyebrows among customs authorities and consumer safety organisations, and raised the question of whether they are a threat to businesses in Europe and the US”. 

Indeed, the EC was reported in the UK Financial Times this week to be mulling new customs administration procedures on low-value imports as part of its customs reform proposals.  

The move would relate to imports from non-EU countries with a value below the €150 de minimis threshold, to compensate for the lost import taxes and flouting of goods standards. 

It is likely targeted at Chinese ecommerce platforms such as Shein and Temu, which have flooded the western consumer market in recent years. Shein says it has 108 million monthly active users in the EU, while Temu claims around 75m, according to Ti.  

The FT said the EC’s potential revenue or handling charge framework was likely to be made public on 5 February. 

The European Association for Forwarding, Transport, Logistics and Customs Services (CLECAT) told The Loadstar it supported the need for better harmonisation and modernisation of customs IT systems and processes. But it was “concerned that the reform is biased towards ecommerce, while neglecting the impact on ‘regular’, compliant international trade – non-ecommerce imports and European exports”. 

CLECAT policy manager for customs affairs and digitalisation Eva Cartwright explained: “We advocate for a better, in-depth business analysis and re-assessment on the accessibility of future customs facilitations and the roles and responsibility share of the various supply chain actors.” 

Further, VatCalc reported that the EC had proposed measures such as the creation of a single customs authority, a customs data hub to facilitate parcel information smoothly and scrapping the €150 customs duties and VAT threshold.  

CLECAT pointed out that removing the de minimis exemption would result in a significant increase in workload for customs agents and potential delays at borders due to increased volumes needing declaration. 

Ms Cartwright said CLECAT did not believe “abolishment of the de minimis was a ‘silver bullet’ that will solve the issues of e-commerce”.  

She added: “We believe a more complex, targeted and possibly political solution is needed. Ecommerce challenges extend beyond what customs legislation alone can resolve.”