Customs authorities handle a huge and ever-increasing number of goods bought online and imported directly to consumers into the EU. They play a vital role at the EU’s borders by controlling goods arriving from third countries and making sure that only safe products reach consumers and that competition in the single market remains fair.
This work has become increasingly demanding as customs authorities handle a rapidly growing number of small parcels driven by global e-commerce. Since 2022, the volume of small packages sent into the EU has doubled every year. In 2024, 4.6 billion packages have flooded the EU market. At the end of 2025, this volume has reached 5.8 billion, over a quarter increase from the previous year.
Most of these goods directly shipped to EU consumers from third countries do not comply with EU product rules and safety standards. This was found by a new EU-wide large scale customs control operation, in cooperation with Market Surveillance Authorities (MSA) and Food Safety Authorities (FSA).
In the second phase of the so-called priority control area (PCA), 27 customs authorities, in cooperation with market surveillance and food safety authorities carried out intensive controls to assess the compliance of products imported via e-commerce during a defined time-period from October to December 2025.
During dedicated days, they selected and controlled cosmetic products (e.g. make-up and creams), personal protective equipment (e.g. helmets and life vests) and food supplements (e.g. protein powder and vitamins) coming from third country operators directly to EU consumers. A total of 11 338 pieces were checked.
Member States focused their controls (for cosmetics and personal protective equipment) on the four major marketplaces representing more than 90% of the low value consignments brought into the EU.
The results are striking. The majority of these products did not comply with EU rules and product standards (incorrect or missing labelling or marking, absence of necessary documentation, inclusion of forbidden ingredients, etc.). When those elements are missing, the product does not contain necessary warning messages, documentation on how to safely use the products, and other standards that EU traders must respect if they want to sell their products on the EU market.
Cosmetics
Close to 6000 pieces of cosmetics, including for example skincare products, toothpastes, make-up, hair and nail products were checked. 65% of those products did not comply with EU product standards. The largest share (63 %) of these non-compliant cosmetics products was of Chinese origin, followed by the United Kingdom and the United States of America, representing together 93% of the non-compliant cosmetics products found during the control action.
Personal Protective Equipment
Over 2000 pieces of personal protective equipment products were also checked. This includes for example bike helmets, gloves, ear protection, sunglasses, swimming googles or life vests. 60% of those products did not comply with EU product standards. 91 % of the non-compliant personal protective equipment was found to be of Chinese origin, with a further 6% originating from the United States of America.
Food Supplements
Close to 3500 pieces of food supplements were checked, including for instance protein powder, booster supplements, dietary supplements, herbal preparations and vitamins. The United States of America, China, and the United Kingdom were the leading countries of origin for non-compliant food supplements, with the United States holding a marginally larger share. India, Hong Kong, and Korea accounted for the remainder.
Food supplements are sold through a more diverse range of online platforms. This results in a more fragmented online market, where products are scattered across many different websites. However, data show that non-compliance is an issue across the entire online food supplement market.
What’s next?
These results clearly show the need for more pressing action to defend consumers and fair competition. The data collected provides crucial lessons to improve and strengthen controls.
The compliance of e-commerce imports will be continuously monitored by customs, in cooperation with market surveillance and food safety authorities. Moreover, additional risk management measures, such as enhanced targeted controls, may be decided vis-à-vis the products and operators for whom the risk of non-compliance has been found as particularly high. This data could be further used to measure the level of compliance of the platforms that have been designated as Very Large Online Marketplaces (VLOPs) with their obligations under the Digital Services Act (DSA). In addition, funding for the customs laboratories and prioritisation under the Customs Control Equipment Instrument (CCEI) has already been increased to strengthen their capacity to analyse and detect products for non-compliance.
Customs enforcement actions are fully aligned and working in tandem with the European Commission initiatives under the Digital Services Act, ensuring that products sold online comply with EU rules and that consumers are effectively protected across the Single Market.
The Commission services are finalising a comprehensive report with the findings of the PCA, including lessons learned and suggestions for the reinforced monitoring and control of compliance of e-commerce imports, that will be made public.
EU Customs Reform: creating a level playing field and safer online shopping
EU rules and product standards protect citizens and the environment. Manufacturers who comply with them should not be at a disadvantage.
The EU’s Customs Reform, which is in the final stages of negotiation with the Council and the European Parliament, will be crucial to create a level playing field and fair competition under the same conditions. The Reform will protect the EU wholesale, retail trade and its workers. With this goal, Member States already agreed to end the exemption from custom duties of parcels below 150 €, replacing it with a single custom duty of 3 € per item applicable from 1 July 2026.
The Customs Reform provisions also protect EU consumers and contribute to ensuring that only compliant and safe products enter the EU market and reach our citizens. With the Reform, platforms and sellers will be considered “deemed importers”. This means online platforms and sellers will be the key actors in ensuring that goods sold online into the EU comply with all customs obligations. This is a major departure from the current customs system, which puts the responsibility on the individual consumer and carriers. With online platforms and sellers as the official importers, EU consumers can be reassured that all taxes and duties have been paid and that their purchases are safe and in line with EU environmental, safety and ethical standards.
Moreover, EU customs will continue to monitor the compliance of e-commerce imports in cooperation with market surveillance authorities and other competent authorities, including food safety authorities.
Background
Customs work closely with national market surveillance authorities, which monitor and enforce the compliance of products with European product safety laws, once these goods are on the EU market. These authorities are appointed by a Member State to carry out market surveillance in that Member State (e.g. national consumer product safety agencies, chemicals authorities and regulators).
On food items, customs also work with food safety authorities, official government bodies responsible for making sure that food is safe to eat and meets health and hygiene standards. They protect consumers by regulating, monitoring, and enforcing rules across the food chain, from production and processing to retail and restaurants.
The cooperation between customs and those authorities is essential, to ensure fluid exchange of information among Member States to better monitor and control e-commerce imports, or to extrapolate the results of controls identifying non-compliant products in order to apply them to the other imports of the same products.
The results of this current action follow up on a first phase priority control area (PCA), which took place from April -June 2025 and in which 20,000 toys and small electronics were checked. More than half of them did not follow EU product standards. A selection of these products was also laboratory-tested for their safety, and 84% of these tested products were found dangerous.