EU Commission: Temu with "high risk of illegal products"
The EU Commission presents the preliminary results of its investigation into the Chinese platform Temu. If it does not react, it could be expensive.
Henna Virkkunen also wants to enforce the Digital Services Act against large Chinese platforms.
(Image: EU-Kommission/Lukasz Kobus)
The EU Commission has accused the Chinese online marketplace Temu of failing to fulfill its obligations adequately under the Digital Services Act (DSA). This is the preliminary result of an investigation launched by the Commission in October 2024. The company still has the opportunity to respond to the allegations; if it fails to do so, it could be expensive.
As part of the investigation, which lasted several months, EU officials relied on “mystery shopping” and incognito shopping, among other things. The EU Commission announced on Monday that there was a “high risk” for European consumers of encountering illegal products on the marketplace provider Temu. For example, the supervisory authorities had received baby toys and electronics that did not comply with EU regulations via the marketplace during undercover purchases.
Initial suspicion confirmed
The EU Commission is now criticizing the provider: “Temu is far from addressing the risks for users as required by the Digital Services Act,” says EU Commission Vice President Henna Virkkunen. According to Virkkunen, consumers store online because they trust that products comply with EU internal market rules.
The EU Commission therefore sees the initial suspicion that Temu is not adequately addressing risks confirmed. According to the Digital Services Act, every provider with more than 45 million monthly users in the EU must check what specific risks they pose. Currently, 24 providers, from marketplaces and search engines to social networks and porn platforms, are considered particularly large within the meaning of the law. Temu has also been included since May 2024.
Among other things, providers are obliged to describe such risks and explain how they effectively counter them. In the opinion of the EU Commission, Temu allegedly failed to adequately assess risks and did not respond appropriately to reports. A company spokesperson announced that Temu would “continue to cooperate fully with the Commission.”
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Only part of the allegations
With the preliminary results now available, at least this part of the DSA proceedings is much closer to a decision. Other important aspects of the proceedings, such as whether Temu is unduly influencing consumers with so-called dark patterns, will continue to be investigated independently of this. The results will follow.
If Temu's lawyers have nothing to counter the EU Commission's preliminary findings, the Commission could impose a fine of up to six percent of annual global turnover on Whaleco Technology, the company behind Temu. So far, however, the EU Commission has been very reluctant to use the possible range of penalties for DSA violations.
(mma)
