European textile federations urge 10 euro handling fee on small parcels

Europe's leading textile federations called on the European Commission on Tuesday to set at 10 euros per parcel the handling fee it plans to introduce on small parcels arriving largely from China, according to news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The demand, made at the Première Vision trade fair in Paris, comes as the European Union tightens scrutiny of Asian online marketplaces such as Shein, Temu and AliExpress, which face accusations of environmental pollution and unfair competition.

The EU has applied a 3 euro tax on each product category shipped within these small parcels since July 1, and plans to add the handling fee from November. The amount has not been finalised but had been expected to be around two euros per parcel.

Almost 5.9 billion small parcels, 93 percent of them from China, entered the European market in 2025, equivalent to more than 180 every second and four times the volume recorded in 2022. The existing three-euro tax has already cut parcel imports into the European market by 30 to 40 percent, France's finance ministry, known as Bercy, said last week.

Not punitive, but 'the real cost'

"We cannot stop there," Euratex president Mario Jorge Machado told industry representatives at the Première Vision fair on Tuesday.

Euratex, the leading European textile federation, called for the handling fee to reach 10 euros and for the resulting revenue to be earmarked for strengthening customs controls rather than absorbed into the European Commission's general budget.

Pierre-François Le Louët, co-president of the French fashion and clothing industries union (UFIMH), said the 10 euro figure was not punitive but reflected "the real cost of the business model" of platforms that have proven difficult for European customs authorities to manage. The UFIMH and the French Union of Textile Industries are both backing Euratex's request.

Euratex represents about 30 European textile industry federations, including those of France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Switzerland and the UK. The federation said the sector accounts for 1.2 million jobs across Europe.

Separately, France on Tuesday brought into force one of the flagship measures of its law targeting ultra-fast fashion, of which Shein is considered the symbol, imposing a surcharge on each of its products that can add as much as 19.50 euros to a jacket by 2030.