European traders supported the introduction of new tariffs, evaluating them as a step towards more equal market conditions…
The finance ministers of the member states of the European Union reached an agreement on the introduction of a new customs duty on low-value shipments arriving on the European market. It is a levy of three euros that will apply to goods ordered through online stores, and the measure is aimed at reducing the flow of cheap products, primarily from China, which are marketed in Europe via platforms such as Shein and Temu.
As announced by the Council of the European Union, the customs duty will start to be applied from July 1 and will remain in force until the Union establishes a permanent solution that would abolish the existing exemption from customs duties for online purchases with a value of up to 150 euros. It is planned that this exemption will be completely abolished by 2028, as part of a broader reform of the EU customs system.
The temporary measure was introduced due to the fact that low-value shipments currently enter the European Union without customs duties, which, according to the Council, creates unfair competition for European traders, raises issues of consumer safety and health, increases the risk of fraud and has a negative impact on the environment.
The new customs duty will not be calculated per package, but according to the type of product, which is defined by six-digit tariff codes. In practice, this means that, for example, ten pairs of socks made of the same material will be taxed with three euros, while a combination of different materials within the same shipment will result in a higher amount of customs duty.
Some members of the European Parliament, including the Irish MEP Barry Andrews, who previously advocated a five-euro tariff per package, welcomed the agreement reached and said that the Union should consider an additional increase in tariffs if the flow of cheap shipments does not decrease.
Online platforms such as Temu, Shein, AliExpress and Amazon enable the direct delivery of clothes, shoes and fashion accessories from Chinese factories to European customers, often at prices significantly lower than those on the domestic market. Estimates show that the removal of the tariff exemption could lead to an increase in the number of low-value shipments to about 4.6 billion annually, with more than 90 percent of packages coming from China.
European traders supported the introduction of new tariffs, evaluating them as a step towards more equal market conditions.
Let us remind you that in the last year, the trade market in Bosnia and Herzegovina experienced serious market disruptions due to the appearance of the TEMU application.
Of the hundreds of millions of KM that TEMU earned on the BiH market, the State of BiH does not earn anything, because the shipments are mostly worth up to 300 KM, and it could have earned between 30 and 40 million KM.
Such shipments bypass customs and tax regulations, which puts domestic traders on an equal footing. Also, subsidizing postage, especially from the Chinese government, allows TEMU to transport goods at low costs, while domestic merchants do not have the same privilege.
However, domestic representatives, ministers and other authorities who receive salaries from the taxes of domestic businessmen, for now are not guided by the example from the EU, even though it is a question of directly causing damage to the domestic economy, he writes. Press Media BiH.
