With the rapid development of China's cross-border e-commerce, its share of the global market continues to grow, which has triggered the strengthening of market supervision in some countries. The United States and Japan, two important markets, have recently taken new measures to strengthen the regulation of cross-border e-commerce goods from China.
Gallagher, chairman of the U.S. House Select Committee on U.S.-China Strategic Competition, recently criticized the "alarming growth" in the number of imports of small parcels that enjoy tariff exemptions. It is reported that in 2023 there will be about 10500 million shipments entered the U.S. duty-free through the "small amount waiver" mechanism, an increase of 53% year-on-year. This growth was mainly driven by small parcels from China, including products from e-commerce platform Shein and Pinduoduo's overseas version of Temu.
In addition, U.S. Senators Sherrod Brown and Rick Scott also sent a letter to Biden calling for the abolition of the "small exemption" mechanism, arguing that it harms U.S. manufacturers, workers, and communities, while allowing "illegal goods" to enter the U.S. market.
In Japan, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has also begun to strengthen its supervision of cross-border e-commerce. In response to the frequent accidents of overseas online shopping products in recent years, such as mobile power supplies**, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan will require companies that sell overseas electronic products directly to Japanese consumers to appoint a person in charge of safety management and dispute resolution in Japan, and disclose the information of the person in charge. This new regulation aims to increase consumer trust in merchants and will be implemented by 2025.
Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry also plans to submit amendments to the current Diet to strengthen the safety regulation of goods purchased online, including the revision of four product safety laws, including the Electrical Appliances Safety Act. If the selling business is unable to take appropriate action to respond to the incident, the operating company will be asked to remove the listing.
According to statistics, in 2022, there will be 103 major product accidents related to online shopping, six times more than ten times as many as ten years ago. This initiative by Japan** aims to improve product safety standards and ensure that consumer rights are not violated.
These new measures in the United States and Japan show that the regulation of cross-border e-commerce goods in major markets around the world is increasing. This is a new challenge for Chinese cross-border e-commerce companies, who need to pay more attention to complying with the laws and regulations of their target markets, ensuring product quality and consumer safety, in order to maintain and expand their overseas market share. At the same time, this is also an important adjustment to the global e-commerce ecology, indicating that the development of cross-border e-commerce will be increasingly affected and constrained by international regulations.
About Shanghai Zhongshen International Trade.