The EU plans to hold online retailers like Amazon, Shein, and Temu (the overseas version of Pinduoduo) responsible for importing and selling goods if they sell dangerous, counterfeit, or illegal goods on their platforms.
Before this, any individual who purchased cross-border goods online within the EU would be considered an "importer" by customs. Therefore, if any cross-border goods introduced into the EU were dangerous, counterfeit or illegal, the "importer" would be responsible.
However, the Financial Times quoted sources as saying that the EU's newly proposed draft will require e-commerce platforms to provide relevant data before cross-border goods arrive in the EU, so that customs officials can more easily grasp the contents of the package and even further inspect the package, and confirm it before the package is actually shipped or arrives in the EU. If the contents of the package are dangerous, counterfeit or illegal, the e-commerce platform will be responsible.
On the other hand, the draft also includes the EU's plan to impose a handling fee on each imported package and require sellers to bear the cost of disposing of products, including clothing, under new waste regulations.
The draft also stipulates that e-commerce services must collect relevant customs duties and VAT, ensure that goods sold comply with EU regulations, and eliminate the previous duty-free policy for imported goods valued under €150. Furthermore, customs data from the 27 EU countries will be consolidated, and a new EU Central Customs Authority (EUCA) will be established.
Data indicates that by 2024, a total of 46 billion low-cost packages will be shipped into the EU via cross-border e-commerce, a roughly fourfold increase compared to 2022. Counterfeit goods cost the EU's apparel industry approximately €4 billion in lost sales annually, the cosmetics industry approximately €120 billion, and the toy industry approximately €30 billion.
The relevant draft is still under discussion and may change before it is officially announced. Temu and Shein have both stated that they will comply with relevant EU regulations, while Amazon has emphasized that it will proactively prevent unsafe and non-compliant products from being listed on its service platform.
