The European Commission has fined the Chinese online retailer Temu €200 million under the Digital Services Act, for failing to do enough to prevent the sale of illegal products. Anonymous checks carried out by the Commission have revealed that it is relatively easy to buy products on Temu from within Europe that do not meet EU standards.
Foreign News
Commission fines Temu €200m for sale of unsafe products
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The Commission based its conclusion partly on mystery shopping. This revealed that “a very high percentage” of the selected chargers failed safety tests. Many baby toys posed risks, for example because they contained chemicals exceeding safety standards or presented a choking hazard due to loose parts.
“Temu’s risk assessment underestimates concrete risks, lacks specificity, is not grounded in solid evidence, and is not comprehensive,” says Henna Virkkunen, executive vice president of the European Commission for Technological Sovereignty. “It leaves regulators, users, and the public in the dark about the true scale of potential harm posed by illegal products sold on Temu. Now it is time for Temu to comply with the law.”
The Commission has given Temu until the end of August to come up with an action plan; otherwise, it will have to pay a fine of €200 million.
This is the second time the Commission has imposed a fine in its enforcement of the rules on digital services that have been in force since 2023. At the end of last year, X was fined €120 million for breaching transparency obligations.
