Belgian Airport Faces Parcel Influx from China Amid EU Regulatory and Quality Concerns
Introduction
The freight airport in Liege, Belgium, is receiving over four million small parcels from China daily, a volume that has strained its customs inspection capacity. With only 80 staff members, the facility is grappling with both quantitative and qualitative challenges, as European and national policy changes redirect trade flows and raise compliance issues.
Main Body
The Liege airport, strategically located near the Netherlands, Germany, and France, was originally developed to serve major e-commerce platforms including Amazon, Shein, Temu, and Alibaba. According to Kristian Vanderwaeren, Belgium’s top customs official, the volume of small parcels from China has increased substantially following the return of US President Donald Trump to office in January 2025. An executive order signed on February 1, 2025, eliminated the de minimis exemption that had allowed Chinese packages valued under US$800 to enter the United States duty-free. This policy shift diverted a significant portion of Chinese e-commerce shipments to European entry points, particularly Liege. Further exacerbating the situation, Italy and France introduced their own handling fees for small parcels earlier this year. Vanderwaeren noted that these national charges prompted shippers to redirect parcels to Belgium to avoid the additional costs, thereby increasing the burden on Liege’s customs team. In response to similar complaints from multiple member states, the European Union has proposed a bloc-wide handling fee of €2 (US$2.36) and a flat-rate fee of €3 per small parcel valued below €150, to be implemented later this year. The Chinese government has characterized these proposed measures as unfair. While the proposed EU fees have generated diplomatic friction between Brussels and Beijing, Vanderwaeren emphasized that the primary issue is not the sheer quantity of parcels but their compliance with European standards. He reported that 30% of inspected small parcels violate EU regulations, and for certain product categories—such as cosmetics—the infringement rate reaches 100%. Many shipments, he stated, contain goods that do not meet European safety or quality requirements, and their declared values are frequently inaccurate. Belgian customs authorities have responded by issuing fines expeditiously, reflecting their limited capacity to conduct thorough inspections on such a large scale.
Conclusion
The confluence of US trade policy changes, national European fees, and EU-wide regulatory proposals has created a logistical and compliance bottleneck at Liege airport. The core challenge, according to Belgian customs, lies in ensuring that Chinese products adhere to European standards before arrival, a matter that requires bilateral cooperation between China and the EU to address both the volume and the quality of incoming parcels.