The Chinese low-price giant Temu now promises to take strong action against dangerous and illegal products on its platform. The announcement comes after strong pressure from the EU Commission and a fine in the spring of around 200 million euros.
This homework comes at a time when scrutiny of Chinese marketplaces is increasing rapidly. As recently as yesterday, Ehandel.se reported on the alarm that as much as 69 percent of controlled goods from Temu and Shein have proven to be potentially dangerous or illegal, while the EU on November 1 approved a new handling fee for small packages to dampen the flow.
The background to the EU Commission's fine is that the marketplace has not done enough to protect European consumers, and that Temu previously could not account for sufficient safety measures when unauthorized products were clicked home.
Four Months to Comply
Now, Temu has submitted a formal action plan to the EU Commission to meet the requirements of the Digital Services Act, DSA. The plan includes, among other things, that the platform will conduct in-depth risk assessments and review its recommendation algorithms.
The company will also review how external sellers exploit the platform's features to market unauthorized goods. The action plan has received preliminary approval from the EU Commission, and Temu now has four months to implement the changes in practice.
If the marketplace fails to clean up among the products and comply with the DSA regulations, the company risks further sanctions and multi-million euro fines from Brussels.