ETIRA Calls for Urgent Action on Non-Compliant E-Commerce Imports

March 19, 2025

 ETIRA welcomes the European Parliament’s strong stance against non-compliant e-commerce imports, which continue to undermine fair competition and endanger consumer safety. The Own Initiative Report on Product Safety and Regulatory Compliance in E-Commerce and Non-EU Imports highlights the urgent need to close loopholes that allow online marketplaces to sell low-cost office imaging consumables while avoiding EU duties, WEEE take-back obligations, and other compliance requirements.

The rise of online marketplaces has created a free-for-all for non-EU sellers, many of whom operate outside the reach of EU regulators. They ship cartridges and toners in small parcels, often misdeclared to evade customs duties, safety checks, and environmental regulations. Meanwhile, European remanufacturers must comply with strict WEEE, REACH, and RoHS regulations, invest in take-back schemes, and ensure their products meet the highest safety and environmental standards.

In 2024, 4.6 billion small e-commerce parcels entered the EU under the €150 customs duty exemption, double the figure from 2023 and triple that of 2022. Many of these shipments bypassed customs checks, flooding the market with cheap, disposable imaging consumables that do not meet EU safety and environmental standards. The cost to European businesses has been immense, with legitimate remanufacturers struggling to compete against products that are neither taxed nor required to meet EU sustainability regulations.

To tackle this growing problem, the European Parliament has proposed urgent reforms. A key recommendation is the removal of the €150 customs duty exemption, which has been widely exploited by non-EU sellers to undercut compliant European businesses. Ending this exemption will ensure that all imports, regardless of value, are subject to the same tax and regulatory requirements, creating a fairer competitive environment.

Another critical measure is stronger enforcement by customs and market surveillance authorities. Current enforcement efforts are inadequate, as authorities lack the resources to inspect the sheer volume of small parcels entering the EU. Many of these products are non-compliant, yet they pass through customs unchecked. Greater investment in customs controls, data-sharing, and regulatory oversight is urgently needed to ensure that non-compliant products are identified and stopped before they reach the market. More testing facilities for e-commerce products would help to identify non-compliant goods before they enter the single market. And new technology can help to enhance enforcement: AI, blockchain, and IoT are essential for improving e-commerce regulation and market surveillance to monitor product listings, automate inspections, and perform risk assessments.

The report also highlights the responsibility of online marketplaces in tackling this issue. Many of these platforms operate as intermediaries rather than direct importers, allowing them to sidestep liability for non-compliant products. The European Parliament calls for stricter rules that hold platforms accountable for ensuring that all products sold on their sites meet EU safety, environmental, and tax requirements. If a marketplace profits from the sale of these products, it must also share in the responsibility for compliance.