The EU will strengthen control over Temu and other online platforms
4 February 09:42
The European Union plans to hold e-commerce platforms such as Temu, Shein, and Amazon Marketplace responsible for dangerous or illegal products sold online. This was reported by the Financial Times, according to Komersant ukrainskyi.
In this way, the EU wants to curb the flow of imported goods from China.
According to a draft proposal reviewed by the Financial Times, changes to customs legislation would require online platforms to provide data on goods before they arrive in the EU, allowing officials to better control and inspect packages. The proposal comes amid concerns about the growing number of dangerous and counterfeit goods being shipped from Asia directly to European consumers.
Currently, anyone in the EU who buys goods online is treated as an importer for customs purposes. But the reforms, if adopted, will shift the responsibility to the platforms.
“Increasing volumes of unsafe, counterfeit or otherwise non-compliant products pose serious risks to consumer safety and health, have an unsustainable impact on the environment, and promote unfair competition for legitimate businesses, significantly affecting competitiveness in different countries and sectors,” the proposal says.
In 2024, the EU imported 4.6 billion lower-value parcels, four times more than in 2022. More than 90 percent were from China. According to the draft, the huge volume of these items creates an “unbearable burden on the authorities.”
According to the reforms, online platforms will have to “collect the appropriate duty and VAT” and “ensure that the goods comply with other EU requirements.” The proposal also abolishes the current duty exemption for goods worth less than €150, which makes them subject to customs inspections.
According to the draft, the customs data of 27 national authorities will be merged and a new central EU customs authority (EUCA) will be created. The document is still under internal discussion and may be published on February 5.
The Financial Times also reminds that the relevant EU authorities are already investigating the marketplace activities of Shein and Amazon, and proceedings have been initiated against AliExpress and Temu.
In Ukraine, there is no longer talk of control, but of cooperation
The Ukrainian postal operator Ukrposhta is launching a strategic partnership with the Chinese marketplace Temu. This was announced in mid-January by Ukrposhta CEO Ihor Smelyansky. He reminded that Ukrposhta is the market leader not only in the export parcels segment, where its share is plus 50%, but also in the delivery of parcels from China. Ukrposhta takes on more than 60% of such shipments.

As reported by Forbes, citing information from the Ministry of Finance and the NGO Institute for Social and Economic Transformation, the largest share of all international shipments in 2024 was parcels from Chinese Internet resources. 43% of all shipments came from AliExpress, 22.46% from Cainiao. The volume of international parcels coming from the Chinese marketplace Temu grew the fastest: in 2023, its share in the Ukrainian market was less than 0.01%, and in the first nine months of 2024, it reached 12.23%.