A leading figure in global trade technology has issued a stark warning that customs authorities worldwide are failing to keep up with the explosive growth of cross-border e-commerce, leaving borders vulnerable to organised crime and fraud.
In a new analysis, Marek Retelski, Head of Global Sales at trade technology firm Webb Fontaine, argues that outdated legacy systems are being overwhelmed by tens of millions of low-value parcels moving across borders every day.
He warns that criminal networks are exploiting these gaps by splitting shipments and tampering with documentation to bypass controls.
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The problem, Mr Retelski explains, lies in the rigidity of current customs infrastructure. While many systems are now partly digital, they are still built on static, rule-based processes that require engineers to manually rewrite code every time a policy changes or a new threat emerges.
“That rigidity shows up in two places,” he writes. “First, in fragmentation. Customs officers often check several separate platforms before they can make one decision. Second, in documentation. Invoices, packing lists and certificates vary by trader and by country, and legacy systems can only process structured declarations. Everything else gets reviewed by hand, which is where errors and fraud slip through.”
The sheer scale of the challenge is laid bare by recent figures. In 2024, US Customs processed 1.36 billion de minimis shipments – a tenfold increase over the previous decade – accounting for roughly 92% of all US import entries by volume. Meanwhile, the European Union recorded almost 5.9 billion low-value items in 2025, up from 4.6 billion the year before.
In response, both the US and the EU have moved to withdraw or curtail de minimis relief – the thresholds below which low-value goods are exempt from duties and controls.
Washington ended duty-free treatment for nearly all countries in August 2025, while Brussels replaced its exemption with a temporary €3 duty per item from 1 July 2026.
However, Mr Retelski cautions that such measures do not reduce volume. Instead, they simply funnel every parcel into formal entry procedures, burdening legitimate traders with the same red tape as high-value shipments.
By contrast, Argentina took the opposite approach, raising its courier ceiling from $1,000 to $3,000 in late 2024 and exempting $400 per shipment on top of five personal imports a year.
Courier imports promptly rose by 274 to $894 million. Mr Retelski notes that such facilitation only works if every parcel can be effectively assessed for risk – a feat that manual processes and rule-rewrite cycles cannot deliver.
He advocates instead for a new generation of “AI-native” customs platforms that can process both structured and unstructured data, pulling disparate information into a single case file per shipment. By combining large language models with machine learning, these systems can flag discrepancies in invoices, packing lists and certificates without waiting for human review.
Crucially, he emphasises that such technology does not remove the need for human judgement. Complex or high-stakes cases would still require an officer’s oversight.
But by automating routine clearance and surfacing only the most ambiguous or risky shipments, authorities could speed up legitimate trade while focusing enforcement where it matters most.
Webb Fontaine recently launched its own AI-powered platform, called Zero, at the WCO Technology Conference in Abu Dhabi. According to Mr Retelski, the system allows officers to describe a policy change in plain language and see it reflected in operations within minutes rather than months.
He concludes that the cost of propping up legacy infrastructure is only going one way – upwards. “Trade will keep getting father and more complex,” he writes.
“The customs authorities that keep pace won’t be the ones bolting AI onto systems built for another era. They’ll be the ones who rebuilt around it’.”
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