On Tuesday, April 29, the French government announced a new e-commerce strategy aimed at ending the current €150 duty-free allowance. Right now, goods bought from online platforms can avoid customs fees if they’re under that amount.
France wants the European Union to take action across the entire bloc, hoping to deal with the 1.5 billion parcels delivered in France every year—about half of which come from China.
“The talks on customs reform have stalled in the Council,” the French government admitted in a statement.
This new plan mainly targets major Chinese e-commerce companies like Temu and Shein, which are among the ten most popular online shopping sites in France. The average item bought from these platforms and imported into France costs just €8.
To tackle the problem, France plans to increase inspections of foreign e-commerce platforms. Authorities will focus on fraud control and will apply a new “360 control doctrine” to check imports for product safety, proper labeling, and environmental compliance.
The government also suggested it might introduce temporary national measures. While waiting for the EU to act, Paris is preparing to set up a flat “management fee” on each parcel. However, France stressed that this should be coordinated with other EU countries before going into effect.
The European Commission had already introduced an action plan in February to deal with the flood of cheap online imports. However, some countries were unhappy with the proposals. Last month, a group of Scandinavian ministers criticized the plan for being too weak, saying it lacked real penalties like fines.
