00:00The European Union is considering imposing a €2 handling fee for small packages from outside the EU.
00:13The idea is to tackle the tsunami of low-cost products coming from online platforms.
00:19This was revealed by the Trade Commissioner Mara Sevkovic while speaking to the European Parliament.
00:25At the moment, it's a proposal that will need time to get final approval.
00:29Consumer organizations are already concerned that the cost will fall on consumers.
00:34Because these big platforms, their business model is to have very cheap costs,
00:38we can anticipate that they will absorb themselves the costs and that it might not be passed on to consumers.
00:43But ultimately, this will be a business decision.
00:46And again, consumers should not be the one paying the price for the compliance.
00:51Europe receives around 12 million small packages per day, with an estimated 4.6 billion items annually.
00:58Most of them goods sold by online Chinese platforms such as Xi'an and Timu.
01:04But the measure could also apply to other companies such as eBay and Amazon.
01:09Brussels is also concerned about the increasing number of dangerous products that are not respecting European standards.
01:17Experts say more measures are needed to ensure consumer safety.
01:23Most of these products are not compliant with product safety rules of the European Union.
01:28So, for instance, phone chargers that can take fire, smoke detectors not detecting smoke.
01:34And more seriously also, you have, for example, toys with little pieces that can detach and actually cause injuries in small children.
01:42So we have a serious problem and it needs to be tackled.
01:45This could be part of the solution to have this levy and we still need to assess what would be the impact on consumer prices, of course.
01:54The money raised through this handling fee will go into the European budget if approved.
02:01That's all good from that.
02:02With an open
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