From the Sector

EURATEX, the European Apparel and Textile Confederation, welcomes today’s State of the Union Address by European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, and in particular her recognition of Europe’s need to rebalance unfair trade, cut red tape, and strengthen its industrial and strategic autonomy. 

EURATEX now calls on the Commission and Member States to translate these commitments into concrete action for the textile and apparel value chain.

At the same time, we regret that industrial competitiveness received comparatively limited attention in an otherwise wide-ranging address. EURATEX urges the Commission to match today’s political commitments with an equal sense of urgency on industrial competitiveness, and to place manufacturing sectors, such as textiles, more firmly at the centre of its agenda in the months ahead.

"Europe cannot build a strong defence, lead the green and digital transitions, or protect its social model on a weakening industrial base. Competitiveness is not just one chapter of the European project – it is the foundation all the others are built on; when we get that right, everything else becomes possible.”, states Dirk Vantyghem, Director General EURATEX.

On trade, EURATEX shares the President’s assessment that the EU’s growing trade deficit with China – now standing at €1 billion a day – has reached a tipping point. The textile and apparel sector has been on the front line of this “second China shock” for years, and we advocate the Commission to move swiftly from dialogue to concrete trade-defence measures, including stronger customs enforcement and imports monitoring for textile products.

EURATEX also welcomes the pledge to cut administrative burden and forge a “pact against gold-plating” with Member States. Textile companies, the vast majority SMEs, are disproportionately affected by overlapping and often diverging national implementation of EU rules, and genuine simplification would meaningfully improve their competitiveness.

Looking ahead to the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), EURATEX stresses the need of dedicated support for the textile industry, reflecting its role as a strategic manufacturing sector for Europe's green, digital, and defence transitions, and ensuring the sector is not left without targeted instruments as EU funding priorities are reshaped.

EURATEX commends the President’s announcement of a new “European Instrument for Strategic Enablers” to strengthen European defence capabilities. Technical and defence-related textiles – from protective equipment and ballistic materials to smart textiles for soldier systems – are an integral part of Europe’s defence industrial base, and we stand ready to ensure the sector is fully recognised in this effort.

On international partnerships, we note with interest the President’s proposal to deepen the EU-Canada relationship through an “Alliance for the Future”. EURATEX has recently signed Memoranda of Understanding with its Canadian counterparts, the Canadian Textiles Industry Association (CTIA) and the Canadian Apparel Federation (CAF), and is well-placed to build on this cooperation as EU-Canada industrial ties are strengthened.

Finally, EURATEX supports the announcement of a new Mediterranean Youth Skills and Jobs initiative. We are already active in this domain through our role in the Pact for Skills, and have ongoing engagement across the Mediterranean region. Therefore, we are ready to contribute with our expertise to ensure the initiative delivers meaningful opportunities for young people in the textile and apparel value chain.

The European Apparel and Textile Confederation (EURATEX) is calling for an EU handling fee of around €10 on low-value e-commerce consignments entering the European market. The association argues that the fee should contribute to the costs of customs controls, market surveillance and product-safety enforcement associated with the rapidly growing volume of direct-to-consumer imports.

Low-value e-commerce imports into the European Union have increased sharply in recent years. According to the European Commission, around 5.9 billion low-value e-commerce items entered the EU in 2025, up 26% from 2024. The growth of direct shipments from non-EU online retailers and marketplaces has increased the workload for customs and market-surveillance authorities and intensified the debate about compliance with European product, safety and customs requirements.

Since 1 July 2026, the EU has applied a temporary customs duty of €3 to low-value consignments of up to €150. The measure replaced the previous customs-duty exemption for such imports and is intended as a transitional arrangement until the new EU Customs Data Hub becomes operational. It is separate from the EU-wide handling fee for small e-commerce consignments provided for under the broader reform of the EU customs framework.

Following the latest agreement on the customs reform, the handling fee is to be introduced by 1 November 2026. Its level will be determined by the European Commission before the member states begin applying it.

Against this background, EURATEX used Première Vision in Paris to argue that the handling fee should be set at a level that more closely reflects the actual enforcement costs associated with the large number of individual consignments entering the Single Market.

The association proposes a benchmark of around €10 per parcel. According to EURATEX, the amount should ultimately be based on a detailed assessment of the costs incurred by customs authorities, market-surveillance bodies and other public authorities involved in checking imported goods.

Processing large numbers of small consignments requires customs declarations to be assessed, risks to be analysed and compliance requirements to be checked. Market-surveillance authorities are also responsible for identifying unsafe or non-compliant products and enforcing EU product-safety rules.

EURATEX therefore argues that the handling fee should primarily be viewed as an enforcement instrument rather than simply as a trade or taxation measure. Revenues generated by the fee should, in the association's view, be linked to additional resources for customs controls, market surveillance, product-safety enforcement and risk-analysis systems.

The proposed €10 level is a EURATEX position and has not been adopted by the European Union. The European Commission is responsible for determining the actual amount of the forthcoming EU handling fee.

The customs reform also changes the responsibilities of companies involved in distance selling to EU consumers. Online platforms and sellers covered by the new rules are to be treated as importers for customs purposes and will therefore assume greater responsibility for customs formalities and duty payments rather than leaving these obligations with individual consumers.

EURATEX considers stronger platform responsibility an important element in addressing non-compliant imports but also points to the risk of alternative logistics structures being used to circumvent controls. More intensive checks on individual direct-to-consumer parcels should not, according to the association, result in goods simply being channelled through bulk imports, EU warehouses or fulfilment centres instead.

Effective enforcement would therefore need to cover different logistics models and provide customs and market-surveillance authorities with sufficiently detailed information on both business-to-consumer and business-to-business flows.

The European textile and clothing industry comprises nearly 200,000 companies in the EU-27 and employs around 1.2 million people. The sector generates annual turnover of approximately €166 billion. Most companies are small and medium-sized enterprises.

For EURATEX, the debate about low-value imports is consequently also a question of competitive conditions. The association is calling for companies selling products to European consumers, irrespective of their country of establishment or distribution model, to be identifiable and subject to comparable customs, product-safety and market-surveillance requirements.