A significant part of household appliances, clothes, toys and food comes from outside of the EU. International e-commerce is causing these imports to grow rapidly. While consumers may think all imports are safe and comply with EU standards, the reality is more complicated. Consumers have a fundamental right to safety. But BEUC members – national consumer groups – find a flow of non-compliant, dangerous, or low-quality products coming into the EU.

BEUC's view on the reform of customs policy therefore comes from the angle of product safety.

In this paper, we make the following recommendations to the European Commission:

1. Ensure EU laws are robust so not all the workload falls on customs
2. Break internal silos within the EU and its Member States
3. Break external silos by cooperating with third countries
4. Increase authorities’ resources