Brussels (Belgium) (AFP) - The European Commission announced Wednesday it would seek to impose new fees on e-commerce imports, as part of efforts to tackle a surge of “harmful” products into the bloc – the bulk of them from China.

The EU action came as the US Postal Service (USPS) briefly suspended inbound parcels from China and Hong Kong, a move affecting low-cost platforms Temu and Shein – but the commission said the two actions were “not coordinated”.

Announcing the steps at a press conference in Brussels, EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen said the bloc had seen the number of imported e-commerce parcels double from 2023 to 2024, to reach 12 million a day.

“Many of those products have been found to be unsafe, counterfeit or even dangerous,” she said.

The commission called on EU lawmakers and member states to “consider” a handling fee on e-commerce parcels imported directly to consumers, to address the “costs of supervising compliance” with EU rules.

The move “aims to address growing concerns about the impact of those products on the health and safety of European consumers,” Virkkunen said.

“It also looks into the significant environmental and climate damage caused by those shipments, and also the unlevel playing field which rogue traders create for our SMEs and businesses.”

Around 90 percent of the packages concerned come from China, according to the commission, many of them sold by booming online giants Shein and Temu.

Both Chinese-founded platforms are suspected by Brussels of not doing enough to prevent the sale of products that do not meet European standards.

- Duty exemptions -

The commission also confirmed the launch of an investigation into Shein for not abiding by the bloc’s consumer protection rules.

“Any business that wants to benefit from our market of almost 450 million consumers should play by the rules,” said the EU’s consumer protection chief, Michael McGrath.

Brussels is coordinating the investigation with the Consumer Protection Cooperation Network, which brings together the competent authorities of the bloc’s 27 member states.

If Shein is found guilty it risks being fined.

Shein said it would “engage” its partners at EU and national government-level to “study these recommendations.”

“We welcome efforts that enhance trust and safety for European consumers when shopping online,” the company said.

The commission had also opened an investigation in October against Temu, which sells a vast array of goods at low costs.

McGrath said up to 96 percent of products tested and sold on the targeted platforms were “not fully compliant with our rules and our safety standards.”

“The consequences can be real and can be very, very serious,” he said – citing examples like a baby’s pacifier that could come apart and choke the child, or a light fitting that could cause an electric shock.

He promised a number of EU actions together with national authorities including “mystery shopping, testing activities, sweeps and controls to detect and recall dangerous products from the market in a more efficient way.”

As well as the move to impose parcel handling fees, the commission also called for rapid implementation of previous proposals taken to level the playing field online, including removing the duty exemption for parcels worth less than 150 euros.

The USPS on Tuesday scrapped a duty-free exemption for low-value packages and suspended parcel imports from China over tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump.

But that was quickly reversed on Wednesday as the postal service said it would keep accepting packages after fears the move could spark major trade disruptions.