Plenty of parcels come to Europe through the Liège Airport in Belgium, and while only a small fraction can be checked, 30% of those checked are found to violate the rules. Trying to manage all of these parcels while also checking enough of them is challenging, but there are plans for additional measures to help reduce violations.
30% of Ecommerce Partners That Enter Europe Through Liège Airport Violate Rules
Belgium’s Liège Airport is one of the major hubs for ecommerce parcels in Europe, as no less than 20% of all European ecommerce purchases pass through the logistics hub. However, customs is only able to check a small fraction of these to ensure they abide by Europe’s rules.
Of the relatively small number of parcels that are checked, 30% of them are found to be in violation of the rules, with the reasons ranging from safety to counterfeiting. This means there’s a good chance that many of the parcels not being checked also violate the rules, but are still finding their way into Europe.
This sort of problem isn’t new for the region, as a study in late 2025 found that 86% of toys sold online by non-European ecommerce sellers were dangerous to children, with nearly all of them not complying with European safety rules.
The Massive Amounts of Parcels Coming Through This Logistics Hub
While the goal is obviously to make sure that no parcels that violate the rules enter Europe at all, this is challenging due to the sheer number of ecommerce parcels arriving in the region.
Throughout 2025, at the Liège Airport alone, customs registered 1.3 billion ecommerce declarations, which is around 3.6 million declarations per day. In January 2026, the number rose to as many as 4.7 million per day. Also, with cheap ecommerce imports into Europe on the rise, I wouldn’t be surprised to see this number grow even further.
As a result, it’s very difficult to check all declarations. In fact, during 2025, only 0.006% of all declarations were checked, which is 216 per day.
During 2025, these checks led to customs recording 25,840 instances of counterfeiting, 1,963 findings related to safety, and 1919 findings for undervaluation. These rule violations led to €3.3 million (around $3.8 million) in fines, taxes, and duties.
Additional Measures are Coming Soon
Of course, only being able to check 0.006% of ecommerce parcels coming into the region isn’t acceptable, and likely means many problematic items are slipping through the cracks and finding their way into Europe.
In response, both the Belgian Government and the European Union are taking additional measures to efficiently monitor the growing number of ecommerce shipments entering the region.
First, the Belgian Government is investing in the further development of IT systems, bringing on additional customs officers to perform physical checks, and improving the teams fighting tax fraud.
The European Union is establishing a European customs authority, developing the EU Customs Data Hub, and creating new ecommerce rules. For example, from July 1st onward, the €150 threshold for customs duties will be removed. There will be a temporary measure in its place, where a duty of €3 per item will be applied for all low-value shipments.
Other measures, such as a €2 European handling fee and a new type of customs warehouse for ecommerce, are still being negotiated.
While it remains to be seen whether these measures are effective, at least the Belgian Government and the European Union as a whole seem committed to reducing the number of incoming parcels that violate the rules of the region.
