Europe is drowning in cheap parcels. In 2024 alone, more than 12 billion low-value packages poured into the EU, 91 percent shipped directly from China.
The delivery itself often costs more than the products inside the parcel. Shoppers may celebrate €5 T-shirts and €10 blenders, but behind every parcel lies a silent cost: bankrupt retailers, violated consumer rights, exploitative labour conditions, and rising threats to public safety.
It is time for the European Union to act immediately and close the door to companies that profit from breaking the rules.
The evidence of Shein’s and Temu’s misconduct is overwhelming. At the top of the list stands the most fundamental concern: consumer safety.
Authorities have found beauty products and children’s toys containing high levels of toxins and carcinogenic substances.
Even more alarming are the failures in products meant to save lives. Smoke detectors that stay silent, helmets that shatter, and electronics that spark fires.
These products would never be sold on Europe’s store shelves — yet millions enter each day, without inspection.
Digital safety is equally compromised.
In France, Shein faces a €150m penalty for illegally retaining cookies on websites despite user rejection. Temu goes further, collecting biometric data, location history, and even microphone access — without clear consent.
These aren’t minor breaches. They are systematic abuses of trust. And still, Shein and Temu remain closer to consumers than the nearest store. One click is all it takes.
If products that violate EU law so clearly, why are these companies still granted access to Europe’s consumers?
The answer lies in the so-called “de minimis” loophole. Under this rule, any parcel worth less than €150 bypasses both customs inspections and tax payments.
Shein and Temu exploit this by shipping millions of orders directly to consumers instead of bulk deliveries that could be inspected.
The result is paralysis: customs officers cannot possibly check billions of micro-parcels. On top of that, the tax exemption itself creates a massive cost advantage: while European businesses pay their share, these platforms exploit a loophole that lets them undercut competitors and distort the market.
Consumers lose. Governments lose. But Shein and Temu cash in.
Shein’s revenues soared from $3bn [€2.55bn] in 2019 to $38bn in 2024, sustaining double-digit growth year after year. Temu’s trajectory is even steeper — from $3m in 2022 to an expected $71bn in 2025.
Yes, the EU knows this is a problem. Yet its response remained timid. It plans to abolish the low-value tax exemption on de minimis parcels — but only in 2028.
Additionally, it reduced fees on bulk imports to encourage consolidation. But this is too little, too late.
Three years of delay is three more years of poison in our children's toys, spyware on our phones, and fire hazards in our homes. Three years of watching ethical European businesses collapse while lawbreakers prosper.
Europe has a choice. It must decide what it values.
Do we accept cheap products that endanger our children’s safety? Do we tolerate loopholes that hand foreign platforms an unfair advantage while European businesses are driven out? Do we look away as companies exploit workers and abuse consumers, so long as the price tag stays low?
The answer must be no. Shein and Temu are not innovators; they are exploiters. If they will not respect our laws, they should not have access to our markets. Every parcel we accept without scrutiny is a silent endorsement of their abuses. Europe has the power to stop this. The question is whether it has the will.
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Amelie Kraaz is an international business student at Maastricht's School of Business and Economics.
Amelie Kraaz is an international business student at Maastricht's School of Business and Economics.