Shein, Temu, AliExpress: France wants to tax small parcels entering Europe

Is it time for Shein, Temu, AliExpress, and other low-cost consumer platforms ? No fewer than three ministers—Eric Lombard, Minister of the Economy; Amélie de Montchalin, Minister of Public Accounts; and Véronique Louwagie, Minister of Trade—and Clara Chappaz, Secretary of State for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Affairs, called a press conference on Tuesday morning, April 29, to present a plan to combat the flood of packages carrying products purchased for a few euros on major e-commerce platforms, including Shein , Temu, and AliExpress, which are established in Asia.

The meeting took place in a warehouse in Cargo City, the immense maze of buildings adjacent to Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle Airport, where goods from all over the world transit. For the occasion, customs officials held an open house with three stalls covered with Pokémon cards, phones, counterfeit banknotes, and household appliances—products seized for non-compliance, counterfeiting, defects, or under-declaration of value.

To act quickly against the influx of Chinese parcels, which could be reinforced by the increase in customs duties wanted by Donald Trump in the United States and which could lead to a redirection of flows towards Europe, France proposes, starting in 2026, to charge platforms a few cents to a few euros per parcel entering the European Union, as a "management fee." "This is not a tax on the consumer," assures Amélie de Montchalin. This contribution, estimated at a few cents for an item and a few euros for a parcel, should be paid by the platforms and would be used to finance human and technical resources to significantly increase the control capacity of customs services, fraud prevention, and the tax authorities. The number of controls is expected to triple by 2028, announced Véronique Louwagie.

These small packages are widely used by low-cost platforms flooding the European market. In 2024, 4.6 billion packages worth less than €150 entered European territory, 91% of which came from China. Their number doubled between 2020 and 2022, and again between 2022 and 2024, according to the European Commission. In France, 1.5 billion packages were delivered in 2024, 800 million of which escaped these management fees, according to figures from the Ministry of the Economy. This has an impact on French online and physical commerce. Thus, according to Bercy, Shein's turnover would be equivalent to that of Kiabi in France, but without owning any physical stores, compared to 350 for Kiabi.

Online, Shein and Temu are among the ten most visited e-commerce sites in France. And if you add the giant Amazon, the three companies represent 25% of online fashion purchases in France. The average value of an item purchased is around 8 euros. The fashion sector isn't the only one affected. Down 5.1% in value and 7% in volume by 2024, the furniture market is experiencing a similar dynamic. Last year, furniture products imported from China increased by 22% in volume and 11% in value.

But France cannot decide to challenge the online retail giants alone. "We bear in mind that we are part of a customs union, we cannot act alone, because if we act alone, the flows will go to another country," Eric Lombard said. During a forthcoming customs reform planned for 2028, "France is proposing to lower the exemption threshold [for customs duties] from 150 euros to 0 euros," Amélie de Montchalin declared. In the meantime, the government wants to bring together a group of European countries to impose "flat-rate management fees from 2026."

As a reminder, Shein, the Chinese clothing giant, is the subject of an investigation opened in 2022 by the General Directorate for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control. Regarding the progress of the procedure, Bercy responded that the investigation, still ongoing, is "extensive and requires time to process." In a statement reported by AFP, the specialist in (very) low-cost clothing responded that it "complies with all laws, regulations, and tax obligations in force in each of the markets where we operate, including France." It retorted: "The success of our company is based on our unique on-demand production model, not on customs duty exemptions."