EU urged to act against unexpected duty charges on e-commerce parcels

A European Commission spokesperson said businesses were legally responsible for customs and the duties should not be collected from consumers. It added it was monitoring the situation.

Chinese e-commerce platforms Temu and AliExpress do include customs duties at check-out, in the case of AliExpress what it calls an estimate. Shein does not, but it said it pays all applicable duties and prices factor this in. Some Shein deliveries are from EU warehouses, which are not subject to duties.

The duty is designed in part to curb what the EU calls unfair competition from online retailers and a surge in the number of e-commerce parcels to 5.8 billion in 2025.

Dutch aviation consulting company Rotate says direct China to Europe freighter capacity fell 18% in the 48 hours after the duties came into effect, but that moderated to a 14% drop in the first full week. Belgium and Hungary, both large entry points for e-commerce imports, experienced steeper declines, while capacity into London Stansted airport in non-EU member Britain rose 25%.