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May 28, 2026, 3:19 p.mMay 28, 2026, 3:19 p.m
The EU Commission has imposed a fine of 200 million euros on the Chinese online marketplace Temu for illegal products. The Brussels authority said the company had not properly assessed the risks and harm to consumers. This is a particularly serious violation of the Digital Services Act (DSA). Consumers in the EU were most likely to encounter illegal items on Temu.
“Temu’s risk assessment underestimates concrete risks, is too unspecific, is not based on solid evidence and is not comprehensive,” denounced the responsible Vice President of the EU Commission, Henna Virkkunen. It does not show “the actual extent of the potential harm” caused by illegal products sold through Temu. Temu now has 130 million customers in Europe, so illegal products reached many EU citizens, said Virkkunen.
The many packages flood European postal distribution points.
Dangerous baby toys and chargers
The authority referred, among other things, to test purchases last year in which many products failed. A “very high percentage of the selected chargers” “failed basic safety tests”. A “high percentage of the baby toys tested” exceeded the chemical limits or posed a choking hazard due to removable parts.
Temu is an online marketplace where numerous companies sell various goods. The Chinese company has been active in Germany since spring 2023 and continues to cause a stir with its low prices and high discounts. Products are often delivered directly from the manufacturer to the customer.
The provider is controversial. Politicians, sales representatives and consumer advocates complain, among other things, about product quality, a lack of controls and unfair competition conditions.
Temu is an online marketplace where numerous companies sell various goods.Image: keystone
EU: Influencers could increase risk
The EU Commission now complained that, contrary to what is required by law, Temu’s risk assessment was based on general information about risks in the entire e-commerce sector instead of on “specific evidence of its own service”, including public reports and tests. She also failed to adequately assess the extent to which Temu’s design could increase the risk of distributing illegal products. The EU Commission cited product advertising through influencers and recommendation systems as examples.
Temu now has to pay the fine and fix the problems – otherwise the authority could impose additional daily fines. Separately, the EU Commission experts are also currently investigating whether Temu could be violating EU law by, among other things, restricting researchers’ access to data and whether it should do more to combat the sale of illegal products, as Virkkunen said. The Chinese competitors Aliexpress and Shein are also in focus.
Strict rules for online giants
The Digital Services Act (DSA) has been in force since February 2024 and is intended to be a sharp sword against what are viewed as dangerous practices by tech giants. Because of the DSA, large online platforms must adhere to significantly stricter regulations: complaints from users should be addressed better, illegal content should be removed more quickly and children should be better protected.
Otherwise, the online platforms must expect severe penalties: up to six percent of global annual turnover is possible. According to the EU Commission, the penalty against Temu is far from this percentage, given its global annual turnover of 53 billion euros in 2025. Critics accuse the authority of making too little use of these sanctions. The sentence against Temu is only the second under the DSA.
Many users shop on the Temu app.Image: KEYSTONE
In December, the EU Commission sanctioned Elon Musk’s online platform X. She had to pay 120 million euros due to lack of transparency. Among other things, this involved misleading authentication of user accounts using the white verification check mark on a blue background.
More and more packages with cheap goods from China
When making the decision on Temu, the EU Commission experts also took data from customs authorities into account, among other things. These showed “high rates of violations for the products sold on Temu in the categories examined,” it said.
Europe’s customs is confronted with a growing flood of parcels from abroad, especially from China. According to the EU Commission, around twelve million packages arrived in the EU every day in 2024, significantly more than in the previous two years.
In order to counteract unwanted cheap imports, a tax of three euros will be due in the EU from July for every package with a goods value of up to 150 euros. This will apply temporarily until a new platform is launched, probably in 2028, and then all goods imported into the EU will be subject to customs duties starting with the first euro.
From November 1st, a new processing fee will also apply to every product ordered online and imported into the EU. However, this measure has not yet been finally decided. In addition, the amount of the fee still has to be determined by the EU Commission. (sda/awp/dpa/val)