Rising imports of cheap goods and the rapid expansion of e-commerce from outside the EU are sparking the question again of how the bloc should protect its producers from unfair competition and low-quality products. The European Parliament backed measures to strengthen that protection in a non-binding resolution.
The resolution was brought forward by the Parliament’s Petitions Committee and steered by rapporteur and Chair Bogdan Rzońca (ECR/POL). It focuses heavily on the rapid growth of non-EU e-commerce and the flood of imported goods that fail to meet EU safety, environmental and labour standards.
Two petitions filed by Polish manufacturing lobby groups — a pram manufacturers’ association and a footwear industry group — started a snowball effect that eventually reached the Parliament. The ECR group in the Petitions Committee specifically requested that the footwear petition be fast-tracked under the urgency procedure. The two petitions were then bundled together.
“The reason for this resolution comes from petitions signed by entrepreneurs in Poland,” said Bogdan Rzońca during the vote. The resolution’s origins in the ECR are notable. A group is typically hostile to EU regulatory expansion, but its sovereigntist instincts make it a natural home for protectionist trade enforcement.
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Focus on China
MEPs called on the European Commission to deploy trade-defence instruments — including anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations — more quickly and more aggressively. It should also simplify procedures for smaller producers seeking relief.
The text explicitly names Chinese state subsidies and industrial overcapacity in sectors including steel, electric vehicles, solar panels and batteries as key drivers of the competitive pressure facing European firms.
On e-commerce, the Parliament urged the removal of the €150 customs duty exemption on low-value parcels, welcoming a Council agreement already reached on that point. It also backed the introduction of mandatory country-of-origin labelling for non-food products.
Relief, not red tape
MEPs also pushed for faster rollout of the digital product passport for high-risk product categories. That includes textiles, children’s products and electronics. They called for online platforms to be treated as “deemed importers” legally responsible for the compliance of goods they sell.
The report on EU competitiveness by former European Central Bank President Mario Draghi was once again cited extensively as the incentive for the resolution. The text includes its finding that over 55 per cent of small and medium-sized businesses regulatory burdens their greatest challenge. The resolution frames new enforcement measures as relief for EU businesses rather than additional red tape.
Non-binding, the Parliament’s move increases political pressure on the Commission ahead of expected legislative moves on customs reform and the e-commerce regulatory framework later this year.
