Members from the European textile and apparel industry declared the need for an increased handling fee on fast fashion in the European Union. On Sept. 1, at Première Vision Paris, members from the Union Française des Industries Mode & Habillement (UFIMH), the Union des Industries Textiles (UIT), and Euratex, The European Apparel and Textile Confederation, came together to sign a joint statement.
A year ago, at Première Vision Paris 2025, some of the same federations came together to issue a similar call to action against fast fashion. This July, the EU enacted one of their demands, abolishing the customs duty exemption below €150 and introducing a temporary €3 duty per item.
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The federations welcomed this development in their statement but declared that this mechanism is not enough to address the challenges caused by billions of direct-to-consumer parcels, which create significant costs for customs and market surveillance authorities.
Pierre-François Le Louët, co-president of UFIMH, said, "One year ago, right here, we were being told that nothing could be done. Since then, the €150 exemption has been abolished, and a €3 customs duty has entered into force: proof that Europe can act when it decides to. But a €3 duty that is paid only once for ten identical garments is not a response commensurate with the scale of the problem. Our companies, our factories and our city-centre retailers are not asking for special treatment: they are asking for the same rules to apply to everyone."
Le Louët suggested an EU-wide handling fee closer to €10 per parcel would more realistically account for the costs of customs processing, risk analysis, logistics, market surveillance, and product-safety enforcement. He said, "the final amount should remain proportionate and be based on a robust assessment of actual enforcement needs." Currently, much of these costs is assumed by taxpayers and by European companies.
The statement also calls on Europe to simultaneously make sure that online retailers take more responsibility for the products they place on the European market.
The federations suggest accelerating the Deemed Importer approach, which is set to take effect in July 2028. This reform will mean that the consumer will no longer be considered the "importer" of the goods they order online from third countries, that responsibility will shift to the platform. This will make platforms responsible for making sure that customs duties and VAT are paid at purchase, and for sending this revenue on to the country where they are registered.
Another area where the federations ask for oversight is the possible creation of new loopholes. They warn that the controls on individual packages may cause sellers to switch to bulk imports or European warehouses or fulfillment centers. They state that customs authorities need to access the same data for both B2C and B2B flows in order to effectively enforce the rules.
Mario Jorge Machado, President of Euratex, said, "The European textile industry represents 1.3 million jobs and 200,000 companies, the vast majority of them SMEs, applying some of the most demanding social and environmental standards in the world. They cannot compete with flows of goods that partly escape our rules and our statistics. We are asking for two simple things: that these parcels are declared to customs as precisely as any other goods, and that the costs of controls are financed by those who make them necessary."