Tax-free parcels rule used by Shein and Temu under review

The main retailers have welcomed the government’s revision of a rule that allows small plots to enter the United Kingdom tax free, saying that it offers foreign companies such as Shein and Temu an unfair progress in British companies.

The former Dragon’s Den Theo Paphitis star, whose retail group includes the chains of Ryman and Robert Dyas, told the BBC that the measure was ruining the streets of the United Kingdom.

The rule allows international retailers to send packages to the United Kingdom worth less than £ 135 without incurring import taxes.

But the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) said that discarding exemption, that many small businesses also use, could increase costs for them and their clients.

In statements to the BBC’s today program, paphitis said the retailers had a leg lobbying government “for a long time,” arguing that the rule had a devastating impact “on our retail panorama and our secondary streets.”

He joined the bosses of Sainsbury’s, Curries and the British retail consortium to welcome the government consultation on the rule.

Foreign Minister Rachel Reeves announced on Wednesday that the Government planned to review customs treatment of low -value products that enter the United Kingdom, after retailers complained that the rivals abroad were undermined.

The United Kingdom companies that bring larger shipments have to pay taxes, and also argue that the cheapest goods may not meet the same environmental and ethical standards they maintain.

The so -called “Mimimis” rule has received a renewed interest after the president of the United States, Donald Trump, discarded a similar measure in the United States in the midst of his growing commercial war with China.

The assets worth less than $ 800 in the US. UU. They will soon be subject to charges, where they were previously exempt. The measure has already led Chinese retailers to increase their prices.

In the United Kingdom, there are more groups that China will throw goods here to avoid the tariffs Trump has imposed on Chinese products.

“It is correct to be concerned about the possible future discharge of goods, since the growing tariffs applied by larger global blockades against each mind mean an increase in the goods that reach markets like their own,” said the president of the chair of the chair.

But he added that the government should process with caution in its minimis consultation.

“With 16% of the goods transferred by small companies sitting below the threshold of £ 135, a decision to discard it impacts on trade and inflation,” he said.

Measures such as mimimis were good for small and medium enterprises, he added, and discarding, could “finally lead to higher prices for consumers.”

But paphitis told the BBC that it was “absolute meaning” that the measure maintains inflation and low prices, since it led to a loss of jobs and tax revenues for the United Kingdom, since companies lose when trying to compete with the cheapest rivals of times.

Helen Dickinson, executive director of the British retail consortium, welcomed the government consultation and said she showed that Reeves was listening to retailers.

“A review of this policy, which was designed to reduce the burden of low volume and low value imports, already necessary.

“Since retailers see an increase in the amount of potentiales that do not meet the United Kingdom market, it is now equally more critical,” he said.