France is pushing to impose a handling tax for small packages sent from China by fast fashion platforms such as Shein and Temu.
Public accounts minister Amelie de Montchalin said the tax from next year would be a “few euros” for each parcel, or a few cents for each article.
Her announcement comes amid concerns that tariffs imposed by US president Donald Trump on China could flood Chinese goods in the European market.
Besides imposing a blanket tariff on Chinese imports, Mr Trump shut down the de minimis trade loophole and imposed a tax on shipments up to $800 at the rate of 120 per cent of their value starting Friday.
The EU is seeking to reform its customs union by 2028 to control online platforms that ship cheap items to European customers duty-free. European retailers and policymakers have grown increasingly critical of the duty-free policy, which they say gives Shein and Temu an unfair advantage by helping them sell products at rock-bottom prices.
The EU plans to scrap its duty-free treatment of packages ordered online that are worth less than €150 (£127), so France’s proposal of handling fees is a transitory measure to help fund tighter customs screening.
The French minister said Paris wanted “the rapid establishment at the European level of a handling fee mechanism for each small package entering Europe”.
However, any imposition of fees would have to be agreed by the EU as a whole and applied across all member states.
“Today is not 2028, so France is proposing fixed handling fees as soon as 2026,” Ms Montchalin said. “It’s not a tax on consumers – it’s to make these platforms contribute more to checks we must do for security.”
The products shipped directly from the factories in China undergo fewer checks on their safety and compliance with the bloc’s rule. “This poses a risk to the French, because the products are dangerous, to brands because of massive counterfeiting, and to public finances because the diversions are also major,” she said at a news briefing after visiting a parcel depot at Charles de Gaulle airport with foreign minister Eric Lombard.
Around 1.5 billion e-commerce packages are shipped to French consumers every year, and about 800 million of those are worth less than €150 (£127), the foreign minister said. “We are in a customs union, so we cannot act alone,” he added.
On Tuesday, France’s confederation of small and medium enterprises called for a “state of emergency” to counter the “invasion” of small packages bought online, AFP news agency reported.
Shein, in a statement to Reuters, said it respects all the laws and regulations across its markets, including France, and that its success is not down to the duty-free allowance.
The Independent has reached out to Temu for a comment.
