EU Customs Struggle as Chinese E-Commerce Parcel Surge Overwhelms Belgium
Hub
Belgium’s top customs official says main
problem is that many products do not meet EU standards
·
Massive surge in parcels:
o
Over 4 million small packages daily arriving
in Liège, Belgium
o
Handled by just 80 customs officers, straining
capacity
·
Trigger: U.S. policy shift
o
Removal of “de minimis” duty-free rule by Donald Trump
o
Chinese exports redirected from U.S. to Europe
·
Further diversion within Europe:
o
France and Italy imposed handling fees
o
More shipments rerouted to Belgium to avoid charges
·
Platforms driving inflow:
o
Amazon
o
Shein
o
Temu
o
Alibaba
·
EU policy response:
o
Proposed €2–€3 handling fee on low-value parcels (<€150)
o
China has opposed the move as unfair
·
Core issue identified by customs:
o
Not just volume, but non-compliance
o
~30% of parcels violate EU standards
o
Some categories (e.g., cosmetics) show near 100%
violations
·
Regulatory gap:
o
EU bans/restricts 2,500+ substances in cosmetics
vs 11 in U.S.
o
Many products fail safety and labeling
requirements
·
Common violations by exporters:
o
Undervaluation of goods
o
Misdeclaration (e.g., luxury goods labeled as low-value items)
o
Lack of EU certification
·
Enforcement tightening:
o
Belgian customs issuing rapid fines and stricter
checks
o
Links found to fraud networks using e-commerce channels
·
Structural challenge:
o
Global customs systems not equipped for high-volume
small parcels
o
Digital infrastructure gaps worsening the issue
·
Way forward:
o
Belgium hiring 200 additional customs officers
o
Greater EU–China cooperation on compliance
o
Belgian officials planning talks in China (Beijing,
Shenzhen)
·
Overall implication:
o
Rising tension between trade facilitation and regulatory
enforcement
o
E-commerce boom exposing weaknesses in global customs
systems
More
than 4 million small parcels from China have arrived at the freight airport in Liege,
Belgium, every day since the beginning of the year. On the receiving end, the Belgian
customs inspection team at the airport has only 80 members.
Belgium’s
top customs official, Kristian Vanderwaeren, said the airport, close to the Netherlands,
Germany and France, was built, in part, to cater to e-commerce platforms such as
Amazon, Shein, Temu and Alibaba.
But
the “explosion” in the number of small parcels from China being diverted to Europe
since US President Donald Trump’s return to the White House last year was pushing
the airport’s capacity to its limit, he said.
An
executive order signed by Trump on February 1 last year removed the “de minimis”
exemption that allowed Chinese packages worth less than US$800 to enter the United
States duty free.
Vanderwaeren said the situation in Liege had further
deteriorated after Italy and France introduced their own handling fees for small
parcels this year, because more parcels were now being redirected to the Belgian
airport to avoid those charges.
Facing
similar complaints from across Europe, the EU has proposed the implementation of
a bloc-wide €2 (US$2.36) handling fee and a €3 flat-rate fee per small parcel valued
below €150 later this year. Beijing has said the proposed measures would be unfair.
While
the proposed fees have been a source of tension between Brussels and Beijing, Vanderwaeren said the core of the problem lay elsewhere – with
the quality of the parcels rather than their quantity. He said the solution was
for both sides to work together to ensure Chinese products met European standards
before they reached the continent.
“The
problem for me, as a customs officer, is not so much the quantity,” he said. “The
problem is that we’re being flooded with Chinese products that … do not meet European
standards, whose value is not properly declared.”
Vanderwaeren said 30 per cent of the small parcels inspected
were in violation of EU standards, while for certain goods, such as cosmetic products,
the infringement rate was 100 per cent.
Belgian
customs are at their wits’ end – they are now issuing fines very swiftly
Xiufang
Tu, Daldewolf law firm
The
European Union bans or restricts over 2,500 substances in cosmetic products – compared
with just 11 in the US – making it one of the strictest regulatory regimes in the
world for products applied to the skin.
In
its 2025 annual report, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office said a fraudulent
chain controlled by Chinese criminal networks was using e-commerce platforms, among
other things, to distribute goods brought in from China.
“The
most important message is how China and Europe … can better collaborate to ensure
that the number of violations decreases,” Vanderwaeren
said, adding that fixing the compliance problem would see 80 per cent of the headache
– handling fees included – disappear.
The
compliance failures of Chinese e-commerce companies have long been known to the
Chinese business community in Belgium.
Many
Chinese e-commerce firms that expanded into Europe simply transplanted their freewheeling
domestic habits without realising that European regulators were far stricter and
that customs violations in the EU could trigger criminal investigations, said Xiufang
Tu, partner and head of the China desk at the Brussels-based Daldewolf law firm.
Some
Chinese electric scooter makers had shipped and sold products in Europe without
any EU certification, she said, and other regulatory breaches, such as under-declaring
values or declaring luxury items as common items, were also widespread because Chinese
firms underestimated the consequences of such behaviour in the EU.
“Belgian
customs are at their wits’ end – they are now issuing fines very swiftly and without
hesitation,” Tu said.
Jiang
Xiaojuan, a former deputy secretary general for China’s State Council, said at last
year’s Boao Forum for Asia the digital infrastructure underpinning customs systems
across the globe is often not advanced enough to handle the surging number of small-package
clearances that pressure many countries’ operating systems.
Vanderwaeren has secured funding to hire 200 more agents,
though the process will take time. He is also adopting a pragmatic approach to the
issue, with a visit to China planned for the end of May, where he will travel to
Beijing and Shenzhen to hold talks with his Chinese counterparts and visit e-commerce
facilities.