Important bit of information: China gets subsidised parcel fee under an agreement of the World Post Association. They pay less for postage than European businesses shipping within the continent.
Why is this not changed? Why all these additional taxes and hoops when they could simply cancels these subsidies?
Look at who funded and lobbied for this, this isn’t about protecting EU manufacturing, most of these companies manufacture their goods outside the EU and charge exorbitant prices for them.
This is once again taking the power out of the proles hands.
Parent Corporate Member Key Retail Brands & Subsidiaries Annual Revenue Schwarz Group Lidl, Kaufland, PreZero €185.6 Billion REWE Group BILLA, REWE, Penny, Toom Baumarkt, BIPA €100.4 Billion Ahold Delhaize Albert Heijn, Delhaize, Alfa Beta, Mega Image, Maxi, Albert €92.35 Billion Carrefour Group Carrefour, Carrefour Market, Express, Atacadão, Cora, Match €91.48 Billion Tesco PLC Tesco, Tesco Express, One Stop €82 Billion Inditex Zara, Pull&Bear, Massimo Dutti, Bershka, Stradivarius €36 Billion H&M Group H&M, COS, Monki, Weekday, & Other Stories, ARKET €21 Billion Colruyt Group Colruyt, Okay, Spar €11.19 Billion Credit to https://www.reddit.com/user/Interesting_Pie_319/ for the data.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Aliexpress/comments/1ugpyoe/i_dug_around_a_bit_and_found_exactly_who_is/
The difference is that these companies have to adhere to EU regulations, e.g. on harmful chemicals. Cheap Chinese products famously do not, often times to an absurd degree, exceeding limits by thousands of times.
Wonderful!