09.01.2026
The European Union is introducing a fixed customs duty on small e-commerce shipments, effective from 1 July this year.
“This is a measure aimed at compensating for the costs incurred by customs authorities. When shipments are very small, their inspection involves higher relative costs”, said Assoc. Prof. Dimitar Zlatinov, Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration and Head of the Department of Economics, speaking on Bulgarian National Radio.
“From the consumer’s perspective, there will be a price increase for some very low-cost goods that are sold at extremely low prices. This mainly concerns items priced up to five euros, because for goods worth up to 150 euros, the imposition of a three-euro duty would not have such a significant effect as to make consumers completely stop purchasing them”, Assoc. Prof. Zlatinov explained.
“The second key question is whether such small measures can realistically address the fact that China has a level of production efficiency that allows it to flood the global economy with very cheap goods. There are also arguments that these products do not always comply with all the strict production and distribution standards in the European Union, which contributes to their higher competitiveness. Nevertheless, we must acknowledge that the issues highlighted by Mario Draghi relate to the EU’s overall competitiveness. These problems remain and cannot be resolved through measures of this kind alone”, Assoc. Prof. Zlatinov added.