EU customs: one parcel in every 15,000 is inspected – e-commerce is putting product monitoring under strain
In 2025, nearly six billion items were released for free circulation, compared with 1.5 billion in 2022: an increase of 298 per cent over three years
Key points
One item checked in every 15,385. In 2022, the ratio was one in every 4,926: over three years, the European customs inspection rate has fallen to around a third, dropping from 203 to 65 cases per million imported items. This is confirmed by the European Commission’s latest report on compliance checks on products entering the EU market.
Almost six billion items: four times as many as in 2022
The figures paint a picture of a system under siege. In 2025, nearly six billion items were released for free circulation, compared with 1.5 billion in 2022: a 298 per cent increase over three years. This growth is driven almost exclusively by non-EU e-commerce. Low-value consignments – that is, those worth up to 150 euros, which have been subject to a three-euro tariff since 1 July – now account for 91 per cent of all imports: 5.9 billion parcels in 2025 alone.
Fewer than 10 items in a million held up at the border
Controls have not kept pace. Customs carried out 387,588 inspections in 2025: 205,888 resulted in a suspension, and 58,391 in a definitive rejection. These figures remained stable compared with 2024. However, the inspection rate plummeted to 65 items per million, down from 82 in 2024 and 203 in 2022. The suspension rate fell to 34 per million. And the detection rate — the proportion of goods actually seized at the border — plummeted below 10 for the first time, standing at 9.7 per million.
From products to countries of origin
The scale of the actual risk is illustrated by a large-scale inspection campaign launched by the Commission in 2025, divided into two phases. In the first phase: 20,000 toys and small electronic items purchased online from non-EU traders. More than half were found to be non-compliant. Of the products tested in the laboratory, 84 per cent were deemed hazardous. In the second phase: 11,338 items, including cosmetics, personal protective equipment and food supplements. 65 per cent of cosmetics and 60 per cent of PPE failed to meet standards, with the United States, China and the United Kingdom among the main countries of origin for non-compliant products.
