Minister says EU duty cuts cheap Chinese imports

Den Danish Customs Agency recorded far fewer small parcels from outside the EU after a new EU duty took effect on July 1, but industry representatives say the goods are still arriving by other routes, DR reports.

The duty, with a minimum charge of three euros, applies to packages worth less than 150 euros. In the weeks before the rules took effect, the Customs Agency recorded between about 1.6 million and 2.2 million goods entries a week, according to the Ministry of Taxation and Growth.

The agency previously said it recorded 400,000 small parcels in the week before the change. The figure fell to 200,000 in the first week under the new rules, and to fewer than 10,000 between August 31 and September 6, the ministry said.

Minister Jakob Engel-Schmidt said the figures mean fewer cheap, low-quality goods are coming from China. He said such products often fail to meet EU consumer protection standards, and hoped the duty would encourage shoppers to choose European businesses over non-European platforms.

But the Danish Chamber of Commerce and delivery company Dao say they have not seen the same scale of decline. The chamber’s e-commerce director, Niels Ralund, told TV 2 that the problem had shifted rather than disappeared, with goods entering through other routes.

Dao said it had seen a three to five per cent fall in parcel deliveries compared with the same period last year. Communications manager Steen Breiner told TV 2 that parcels from China, which often arrived at Dao through Danish airports last year, now come by truck from elsewhere in Europe. He said the parcels are still reaching the country, but are no longer being cleared through customs in Denmark.