Customs authorities intensify product checks at the EU’s borders
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. They monitor and enforce the compliance of products with European product safety laws, once these goods are on the EU market.
Key data from 2022 to 2025 shows that customs controls in Member States are under increasing strain. In 2025, around 6 billion items were released for free circulation, three times more than in 2022, largely driven by e-commerce from outside the EU. As e-commerce volumes rise, the rate of enforcement is weakening the relative performance of customs controls, despite the high number of controls carried out in absolute terms. In 2025, the EU control rate fell to 65 items per million items imported. The rate of goods ultimately refused at the border due to non-compliance or because they posed serious risks, also fell to below 10 items per million.
As parcel volumes surge, customs controls are falling behind
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 5.9 billion, over a quarter increase from the previous year.
E-commerce parcels now account for over 97% of all shipments entering the EU, far beyond what customs and market surveillance authorities can handle through traditional methods.
The effectiveness of existing controls require improvement to address emerging challenges.
Imported products, including those purchased online, do not always comply with EU rules regarding safety, security, or environmental standards. This creates risks for EU citizens and businesses.
Most goods bought online do not comply with EU product and safety standards
In 2025, an EU-wide large-scale customs control operation (priority control area (PCA)), a cooperation between Customs, Market Surveillance (MSA) and Food Safety Authorities (FSA), investigated the compliance of products imported via e-commerce
The results showed that most of the goods directly shipped to EU consumers from third countries do not comply with EU product rules and safety standards.
27 customs authorities and 108 market surveillance authorities carried out intensified controls during a defined time-period: phase 1 from April- June 2025 and phase 2 from October to December 2025. During dedicated days, they selected and controlled toys and small electronics, as well as cosmetics, food supplements and personal protective equipment, coming from third country operators directly to EU consumers.
The control operation checked the compliance of goods bought online against the rules and standards (labelling, marking, presence of necessary documentation, 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.
Member States focused their controls on the four major marketplaces (for toys, electronics, cosmetics and personal protective equipment) representing more than 90% of the low value consignments brought into the EU.
Toys and small electronics: not compliant and even dangerous
In phase 1, they found out that more than half of the controlled products are not compliant with EU rules.
A selection of these products was also tested for their safety. For those products tested, the results are worrying: the products that underwent laboratory tests were found dangerous in 84% of the cases, pointing to risks of choking, electric shock, presence of chemicals, asphyxiation, etc.
Protein powder, sunglasses, moisturiser: If you buy them online, they most likely violate EU product standards
During the second phase of the operation, customs, market surveillance and food authorities 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.
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.
