Call for fair competition with regard to third-country platforms

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Background

Third‑country e‑commerce platforms such as Temu and Shein have expanded their footprint in the EU at an unprecedented speed. Between 2016 and 2022, the share of EU consumers buying from non‑EU sellers rose by 36%, with volumes of low‑value consignments exploding.

In 2024, 4.6 billion low-value parcels entered the EU – equivalent to 12 million per day, and more than three times the volume in 2022, overwhelming customs and market‑surveillance capacity. Over 91% of parcels cheaper than EUR 150 came from China. Authorities report widespread undervaluation, undeclared shipments and product non‑compliance. Member States have started to react, but fragmented approaches are proving insufficient.

In its opinion, the EESC notes with concern that this expansion is creating significant challenges regarding fair competition, consumer protection and regulatory compliance. The Commission’s February 2025 EU toolbox for safe and sustainable e‑commerce is a useful step, but the EESC believes that swift, coordinated implementation is essential in order to protect the single market, and calls for stronger enforcement of existing rules at EU, national and regional level.

The EESC therefore proposes 12 concrete short-, medium- and long-term measures that will lead to fair competition, thus meeting the requirements for a social market economy as laid out in Article 3.3 of the Treaty on European Union.

 

Key points

In its opinion, the EESC:

  • advocates implementing the EU customs reform as quickly as possible, in particular the part concerning e-commerce, and urges the EU Member States to immediately give the Commission a mandate to develop the customs data hub;
  • calls for the abolishment of the EUR 150 customs duty exemption and for the implementation of the ‘deemed importer’ model across the EU, shifting responsibility from consumers to platforms; and
  • insists that all third-country platforms appoint an EU-based responsible economic operator with full legal liability, as required by the Digital Services Act, and be recognised as central actors in the supply chain.

Read the draft opinion.

 

Additional information

Section: Single Market, Production and Consumption

Opinion number: INT/1084

Opinion type: Own-initiative opinion

Rapporteur: Antje Gerstein

Reference: Rule 52(2) of the Rules of Procedure

Date of adoption by section: 2.9.2025

Result of the vote: 69 in favour/0 against/0 abstentions

Date of adoption in plenary: 18.09.2025

Result of the vote: in favour/ against/ abstentions

 

Contacts

Press officer: Laura Lui

Tel.: +32 2 546 9189

Email: laurairena.lui@eesc.europa.eu

Administrator: Radoslava Stefankova

Tel.: +32 2 546 8188

Email: radoslava.stefankova@eesc.europa.eu

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