EU aims for major import reform to crack down on illegal Chinese products
Brussels is preparing a new law to crack down on non-compliant imports, as part of a broader effort to limit the entry of illegal Chinese products into the EU market. The draft proposal also includes liability for online marketplaces, a new market surveillance fee and centralised enforcement.
The European Commission is preparing a new legislative proposal to close loopholes in enforcement that allow illegal products sold through e-commerce platforms to reach EU consumers, according to a published draft seen by Euronews.
The bill does not explicitly mention China, but comes as Brussels steps up efforts to tackle the rise of low-value e-commerce imports, particularly from Chinese platforms such as Temu and Shein.
In recent months, senior EU officials have sounded the alarm over the growing trade deficit with Beijing, which they consider unsustainable, having reached a staggering figure of 1 billion euros per day by 2025.
"Significant weaknesses remain in ensuring that non-compliant products, particularly those sold online or imported directly from third countries, are effectively identified and removed from the single market," the document says.
The legislative proposal, called the European Product Act, is expected to be published on October 6. It also introduces liability for online marketplaces in certain circumstances, a significant centralization of the market surveillance system, and a new fee.
Chinese imports
The draft law aims to crack down on imports of illegal products, particularly from online markets, by ensuring that an economic operator in the EU is always legally liable for non-compliance with the rules.
If the economic operator is not established in the EU, it must be either an importer or an authorized representative with a mandate from the manufacturer — a mechanism designed to make the proposal much more difficult to circumvent by having a seller based outside the EU sell directly to European consumers.
"In the digital environment in particular, market surveillance authorities must be able to put an end to non-compliance quickly and effectively, in particular when the economic operator selling the product conceals its identity or relocates within the Union or to a third country to evade enforcement," the document continues.
In May, the Commission fined Chinese e-commerce giant Temu €200 million for shortcomings related to dangerous baby toys and faulty chargers. Brussels is also investigating Shein for illegal products, including child-like sex dolls.
Online markets
When an online marketplace places a product on the EU market, the proposal makes it mandatory to verify that each product has a so-called "Digital Product Passport" containing key information on its identity and compliance or a liability register created by the manufacturer to allow identification of the product.
Upon receiving a notice, the marketplace would be obligated to remove the product and prevent its reappearance.
If a marketplace fails to comply with these verification and removal obligations, and the product is placed on the EU market without a responsible economic operator established in the EU, the marketplace will have to fulfil the obligations of an authorised representative for that product.
Market surveillance fee
The draft also introduces a new fee for Union market surveillance for products entering the EU market from third countries and is proportionate to the estimated cost to market surveillance authorities of carrying out their tasks.
In other words, importers would bear the fee, which aims to cover the additional market surveillance costs associated with imported products and reduce the burden on the EU budget.
The tariff would be lower for products imported in bulk rather than individual packages sent directly to consumers. How exactly it would be calculated is left to secondary legislation.
This new fee will be separate from the customs “handling fee” proposed as part of the EU’s parallel customs reform, which aims to cover customs processing costs.
Centralization of law enforcement
The Commission is proposing what is sure to be seen as a significant power grab, expanding its enforcement powers in an area - market surveillance of products - that has traditionally been at the national level.
Specifically, the draft would empower the Commission to conduct investigations and enforcement actions if non-compliant products are likely to have been placed in at least two-thirds of the member states and no national authority has opened a market surveillance investigation after being notified.
These enforcement powers are broad: imposing corrective actions, restricting illegal products, ordering the withdrawal of products, imposing fines and imposing interim measures against economic operators or online marketplaces.
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