In its campaign on the impact of ‘small parcels’ from overseas suppliers fulfilling B2C orders while paying no customs duties, BHETA is now raising latest US and EU practice with UK Government ministers.
BHETA’s objective is to have the government reduce the UK’s ‘De Minimis’ threshold for duty of £135 to under £40. (The De Minimis threshold refers to the value below which goods can be imported into a country without incurring customs duties).
In its latest lobbying steps of an ongoing campaign, BHETA has written to Gareth Thomas MP, Minister for Business and Trade, citing the US administration’s intent to reduce or eliminate the De Minimis threshold for imports from China, and the EU’s stricter controls over product safety and compliance, particularly targeting platforms such as Temu and Shein.
From a UK perspective, in the last five years, there has been a sharp rise in the volume of products sold directly to consumers in the UK by overseas producers in ‘small parcels’. The inability of the Border Force to check most of these small B2C imports, has led to danger to consumers from unsafe product, massive losses in VAT revenue for the Government and huge difficulties for UK producers who are unable to compete on a level playing field.
An estimated 100 million small parcel shipments arrived in the UK from overseas sellers in 2023, due to the rise of shopping giants like Temu, Shein, Amazon and eBay. Most enter the country with minimal or no checks. Reports suggest that customs only manage to physically check around 3-5% of total shipments, with the rest being subjected to automated or random checks. If predictions on the effects of US tariffs leading to ‘dumping’ of goods into other export markets prove true, the situation is likely to worsen unless the UK Government takes action.
There are already huge difficulties for UK producers unable to compete with producers who bypass all, or part, of UK legislation. This not only leads to an estimated annual £1 billion in lost VAT (misdeclarations, understating the value of goods and seller non-compliance), but also poses a direct threat to consumers in terms of product safety and consumer rights.
As BHETA has pointed out to Government, regulatory agencies in other territories are already enforcing tighter safety measures, ensuring that imported goods meet EU standards and do not pose risks to consumers.
Without further government intervention, the UK lags behind in safety terms quite apart from monetary impact. As example, bladed articles arrive in the UK in small parcels undermining the Home Office and Police’s attempts to reduce knife crime.
Associated problems are the adverse impact on environmental sustainability, IP violation and economic harm to UK producers.
The BHETA campaign
With issues as big and wide-ranging as these, the BHETA small parcels campaign is advocating that firstly, the UK Government lowers the ‘De Minimis’ threshold for duty to below £40 and secondly, the UK Government should make significant investments in the UK Border Force to facilitate comprehensive checks on imported small parcels. This should be financed by targeting the lost tax revenue from overseas producers.
Commenting on BHETA’s latest campaign, chief operating officer, Will Jones said: “It goes without saying that there is a need for a competitive market that benefits consumers. However, the ‘small parcels’ challenge is undermining the market and creating a potentially dangerous and damaging environment that needs to be addressed.”
