Liège Airport serves as the main gateway to Europe for e-commerce packages from Chinese players such as Temu, Shein and Alibaba. An average of 3.6 million customs declarations are processed daily, and during peak periods, the figure can reach up to 8 million. At the same time, this large flow is monitored by only 80 customs officials. This means that customs only manages to open and inspect approximately one in 17,000 packages, reports Dagens Nyheter.
Major Deficiencies in Goods
Of the few shipments that are actually inspected, it turns out that between 30 and 40 percent violate EU regulations. This ranges from incorrect customs declarations to unauthorized chemicals, dangerous toys and outright counterfeits.
For certain product categories, the results are even clearer. When it comes to cosmetics and makeup, between 90 and 100 percent of the products checked do not meet the requirements. The deficiencies most often concern missing certificates, incomplete ingredient lists or the presence of unauthorized and hazardous substances.
Calls for Import Ban
Belgium's customs chief, Kristian Vanderwaeren, is now sounding the alarm. He believes that Chinese producers simply ignore the regulations because the risk of being detected is so low. He calls for swift political decisions and wants to see an import ban from EU countries on products that do not comply with current laws.
Previous measures, such as the three euro customs fee for small packages, have reduced volumes somewhat, according to the customs chief, but the proportion of incorrect and dangerous goods remains at a consistently high level.
EU Plans New Fees
The question of how the influx of packages should be handled is currently a hot topic in Brussels. As recently as today, Ehandel.se reported on leaked documents showing that the EU wants to introduce a new market control fee on Temu and Shein to finance expanded product controls of imported packages.