Attention to exporting to the European Union! EU tariffs will undergo significant reforms

On Wednesday (May 17th) local time, the European Commission officially released a proposal proposing a comprehensive reform of its customs framework, introducing data-driven systems to simplify procedures for traders. This marks the most ambitious and comprehensive reform of the EU Customs Union since its establishment in 1968.


It is said that this move is aimed at addressing the growing volume of e-commerce trade, increasing EU rules, and changes in geopolitical landscape. It is worth noting that the EU also plans to remove the current policy of duty-free import of goods below 150 euros.


150 Euro small commodity tax exemption clause will be cancelled


The EU stated that in the current tariff system, consumers and carriers actually bear the main responsibility for tariffs, and after the reform, this part of responsibility will be mainly borne by e-commerce platforms. The platform will be responsible for ensuring that the goods have already paid customs duties and value-added tax upon purchase, rather than requiring consumers to pay additional fees or submit documents upon receiving the package.


The most crucial point is that the EU also plans to remove the current policy of duty-free import of goods below 150 euros. The European Union stated that approximately 65% of the packages entering the EU are intentionally undervalued, benefiting from this policy. The European Union expects that this new and customized system for e-commerce can generate an additional revenue of 1 billion euros per year for customs. Meanwhile, with the intelligence of the tax declaration process, the calculation of tariffs on low value goods can also be reduced from thousands of possible tariff categories to four, making it easier to calculate tariffs on small packages. This is also beneficial for e-commerce platforms and customs to properly manage the 1 billion e-commerce transactions imported into the EU each year.


Suggest a unified AI system


In addition, as a key focus of reform, the EU will establish a new Customs General Administration responsible for overseeing the EU Customs Data Center, which will also be the core of the new system. As time goes by, this new data center will replace the existing customs IT infrastructure of member states, with an estimated annual cost savings of 2 billion euros.


For enterprises, the advantage is that they only need to interact with this platform and only need to submit information once for multiple batches of goods. In certain cases where business processes and supply chains are completely transparent, 'trusted traders' can import goods into the EU without any active intervention from customs.


According to the timetable proposed by the European Union, the EU Customs Data Center will be launched before 2028, and e-commerce goods imports will be processed through this platform; After 2032, other traders can also start using this platform voluntarily.


According to the legislative process, the next step of this proposal will be submitted to the European Parliament and the Council for comments.