The European Commission today proposed imposing a €2 fee on every small parcel entering Europe.

The vast majority of these packages come from China.

“We are talking about €2 per parcel, payable from the platform,” said Trade Commissioner Maros Sefkowitz, speaking at the European Parliament in Brussels.

According to Sefkowitz, last year about 4.6 billion parcels were imported into the EU.

A key aim is to fund controls that will need to be strengthened due to the increase in imported small parcels from Asia, mainly from platforms such as Shein and Temu. Brussels fears that platforms will turn to the European market because the US will increase tariffs on Chinese goods.

The measure had been called for by France, which in late April proposed imposing a “handling fee” on every small parcel imported into Europe.