BRUSSELS, March 25 (Reuters) - The European Union

selected French city Lille on Wednesday as the location of the

new EU Customs Authority (EUCA), which will coordinate duty

collection and safety checks on goods coming into the 27-nation

bloc.

The authority is part of an overhaul of EU customs to

coordinate controls on the billions of small packages that

arrive in the bloc each year and ensure that the goods comply

with EU safety standards.

Nine EU cities had bid to host the authority, which will

have about 250 staff, with Lille beating Rome in the final

round.

The EU has struggled to manage the high volume of low-value

e-commerce parcels entering the bloc, with the total reaching

5.8 billion in 2025. It plans to impose a 3 euro fee from July

as a temporary measure before scrapping a duty exemption.

The EU does not apply customs duty on parcels valued at less

than 150 euros ($173.85), which has fuelled rapid growth of

online shopping platforms such as Shein, Temu and

AliExpress, which send consumers packages direct from

China.

The bloc also wants tighter controls on product safety. In a

study published this month, the European Commission found that

60-65% of imported cosmetics, including make-up, food

supplements and personal protective equipment such as bicycle

helmets did not comply with EU safety rules.

The reform is designed to create more harmonised handling of

incoming goods and replace customs IT infrastructure in EU

members with a new EU data hub, saving them up to 2 billion

euros a year in operating costs.

The data hub is slated to open for e-commerce consignments

in 2028, followed by other importers on a voluntary basis in

2032 before becoming mandatory in 2038.

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