EU customs report 2025: six billion imported items, fewer checks – what it means for PPE imports

What the report says

The Commission’s Directorate-General for Taxation and Customs Union (DG TAXUD) published its report on product-compliance controls on goods entering the EU market, covering 2025, on 20 July 2026. The headline figures:

Indicator (2025)	Value
Product items released for free circulation	about 6 billion — three times the 2022 figure
Share of parcels among shipments entering the EU	over 97%
Customs control rate	65 items per million imported
Goods ultimately refused at the border	fewer than 10 items per million
Spread between Member States	the best discovery rate is 384 times the worst

The report also describes an investigation of products ordered online from outside the EU: more than 60% of the toys, small electronics, cosmetics, personal protective equipment and food supplements checked failed EU compliance and safety requirements. In an earlier coordinated customs action, published in January 2026, more than half of 20,000 toys and small electronics checked did not follow EU product rules, and 84% of the selection tested in a laboratory proved dangerous.

The Commission’s conclusion: parcel volumes are growing faster than the current control capacity can follow, so stronger customs controls and closer cooperation between customs and market-surveillance authorities are needed.

What changes in 2026

• The EUR 150 duty exemption is gone: from 1 July 2026 a temporary flat duty of EUR 3 per item applies to low-value consignments from outside the EU.
• Customs Reform: online platforms and sellers become the official importers responsible for customs obligations; a new EU Customs Authority is set up in Lille, and a central EU Customs Data Hub collects the data.

What it means for PPE manufacturers and importers

The report is not about PPE, but PPE is named among the non-compliant online imports, and the conclusions bear directly on PPE imports.

1. The responsible economic operator. For a non-EU manufacturer’s product, customs and market surveillance look for the importer or the authorised representative — name and EU address on the product or its packaging. For goods arriving through a platform, the reform places that responsibility on the platform and the seller.
2. Documentation is decided at the border. CE marking, EU declaration of conformity, for Category II and III PPE the EU type-examination certificate, instructions for use in the language of the destination country. What was missing on half the models in the market-surveillance campaigns is what goes missing at the border.
3. Fewer checks do not mean less risk. 65 checks per million means a non-compliant product gets in more easily — and is found on the market by a competitor, a customer or market surveillance. The 2026 reform and the EUR 3 duty aim precisely at restoring control.

The route for non-EU manufacturers, from certification to placing on the market, is described in CE marking for PPE manufactured outside the EU; what market surveillance found on safety footwear already on the market is in our news item on the EU market-surveillance campaign.