11 ms·

EU fines Temu €200M for allowing sale of illegal products

352 points by jjp 4mo ago

gib444 4mo ago
> Temu has until 28 August 2026 to submit an action plan to the Commission, as required by Article 75 of the DSA. The plan must set out measures to remedy the breach of its risk-assessment obligations. The European Board for Digital Services will have one month from receipt of the plan to issue its opinion. The Commission will then have a further month to adopt its final decision and set a reasonable period for implementation. > Failure to comply with the non-compliance decision may lead to periodic penalty payments. So they're just threatening a fine at this stage? It's not clear to me
- nolok 4mo ago
  No, it's a fine, but the fine doesn't absolve you from fixing it too so it stops. You have this delay to submit a plan for how and on what timeline you will fix it. If you don't do it, or take too long, we will keep fining you, increasingly. An exemple what how in the old microsoft case they ended up puttin a daily fine for non compliance until microsoft balked back and fixed it (after they tried to act tough and pretended to ignore them). The end goal ultimately is to get it fixed.
  - bcjdjsndon 4mo ago
    How do they enforce a fine on a Chinese company? What if temu says "up yours"?
    - mdrzn 4mo ago
      you won't be able to sell in the EU market anymore
      - dylan604 4mo ago
        Doesn’t Temu direct ship to the customer? What if they ship in plain unmarked packaging and keep changing the address of the sender? Is the EU customs peeps just going to start inspecting every single package from China looking for items from Temu? That sounds like a logistical nightmare. This sounds like old school thinking where you can stop whole containers full of stuff from a single supplier.
        bonzini 4mo ago
        The money has to move from the EU to Temu/Pinduoduo coffers at some point.
        triceratops 4mo ago
        Smuggling isn't a great business model for legitimate companies.
        eqvinox 4mo ago
        At some point it's a diplomatic incident and will affect EU-Chinese relationships. Even the Chinese government doesn't want to fuck it up for all Chinese companies just because one of them feels like the rules don't apply to them. It's not like the only goods flowing from China to the EU are cheap trash.
        markus92 4mo ago
        Temu has EU warehouses they appear to ship from: all return addresses I've seen are EU addresses.
        tpm 4mo ago
        What logistic company will ship plain unmarked packages? They simply wouldn't be delivered at all. > Is the EU customs peeps just going to start inspecting every single package from China looking for items from Temu? They might, why not. It would be unwise to pick a fight like this for any company.
      - bcjdjsndon 4mo ago
        Say they carry on.... How does EU actually stop people ordering from their website and getting items posted to their house?
        askl 4mo ago
        Ordering ISPs to DNS block temu would probably be easier and effective enough. Or maybe getting google and apple to make the app not available in the EU.
        Mashimo 4mo ago
        Maybe going for the money. Forbit EU banks from transferring funds to known Temu accounts.
        tpm 4mo ago
        There are still borders and customs inspections, that's how.
        bcjdjsndon 4mo ago
        Just in a poxy country like the UK it's millions of parcels a day delivered across multiple ports mostly inside containers.... It's simply not feasible to check it all, it would cost a ton of money to have enough checkers and not slow down deliveries.
        tpm 4mo ago
        That's a failure of the state to control its borders. > it would cost a ton of money That's why the EU is imposing a €3 fixed customs duty per item (and later another €2 handling fee) effective July 1 (should have been much sooner in my opinion) for small packages (under €150), in addition to the VAT.
        throw_a_grenade 4mo ago
        They'll put them on naughty list that will be enforced by financial institutions, i.e. it will be an infraction for credit card operators to process such a payment. Financial operators have well oiled compliance facilities and the payment won't clear. If Temu won't get the money, they won't ship the parcel. And if they won't ship, then there will be a bit less carcinogens in EU. Good stuff.
    - robin_reala 4mo ago
      I visited Temu from Sweden and clicked on the terms of use, this is the first line: 1.1 These Terms are between you and Whaleco Technology Limited, an Irish company.
- purerandomness 4mo ago
  Since this is under the "Next Steps" section, it's pretty clear to me that the €200M fine is a fixed one-time fine that was issued now, but further, repeated fines ("periodic") will be issued if the hazard is not removed.
- throw_a_grenade 4mo ago
  It's actually both: they handed one-time fine for past behaviour (about 200 M€, not final, can and most likely will be appealed and paid in like 10 years or so; cf. Apple tax breaks in Ireland); and threatening more fines if they don't play along in the future. One of the kinds of punishment that Commision can slap (subject to court oversight, ofc) is „daily fines”, which is a fine that accumulates with constant daily rate up to the date the company complies, or some pre-set maximum, which usually calculates to several months, and need to be reissued afterwards (which is an opportunity to double the daily amount, and again, can be appealed to a court).
  - gib444 4mo ago
    > not final, can and most likely will be appealed and paid in like 10 years But the EU got some headlines and people believed they came down with an iron first so that's really the most important thing here In my world finest are served when they're actually paid, not threatened
    - throw_a_grenade 4mo ago
      In my world people are innocent until proven guilty before a court of law, twice. Yes, even business people. Executive branch shouldn't be able to just bankrupt a company and tell the owners to go through the courts to maybe recover the money in 10 years, if they're innocent after all. There were several such cases in my country before we joined EU, most high profile one was against Optimus SA (predecessor to CD Projekt), where they just took people's money, without cause as they courts later found. Never again. So the middle ground is, Temu can choose to play hardball all the way to ECJ, but if they are wrong (they are and they know it), the cost will be substantial (200 M€ + interest + daily fines + interest). So I think they'll enter talks, pay 200 M€ and pinky promise to delist offending items.
      - gib444 4mo ago
        Just to be clear, you're so desperate to disagree with me or be contrary that you're saying that people need to be convicted by a court twice for the same crime for real justice to be properly served?
big85 4mo ago
> Evidence from a mystery shopping exercise included in the Commission's investigation shows that a very high percentage of the selected chargers failed basic safety tests, while a high percentage of tested baby toys posed safety risks of medium to high severity, as they contain chemicals exceeding legal safety limits or pose suffocation hazards due to detachable parts. > Under the DSA, designated Very Large Online Platforms are required to diligently assess systemic risks linked to their services and adopt corresponding mitigation measures.
- throwa356262 4mo ago
  Is temu much worse than amazon here?
  - HPsquared 4mo ago
    There's a lot of work to be done.
  - embedding-shape 4mo ago
    Probably yeah, Amazon already had long exposure to the regulations from EU and European countries, they surely have some won lessons from these years, compared to Temu which is relatively new and might still be learning how things work, apparently. Temu is what, 3-4 years old or something?
    - bonzini 4mo ago
      "compared to Temu that does not give a damn by design" would be more accurate.
      - embedding-shape 4mo ago
        I mean the same goes for most US companies, every time they first arrive in Europe they stumble around breaking laws and what not until they get fined to act properly, happened a bunch of times before, most famous examples being Uber and AirBnb, but Amazon been in trouble for the same thing in the past too.
alexaholic 4mo ago
[flagged]
- alibarber 4mo ago
  This is about illegally dangerous products (banned chemicals, dangerous baby toys, crappy mains chargers) specifically. The stuff that makes for exciting viewing on Big Clive's YouTube channel. Local importers, shops and marketplaces selling such stuff do often get hit by national enforcement. Not enough in my opinion - but this isn't about just targeting Teemu for the normal commodities that you can indeed buy anywhere else.
- mns 4mo ago
  But you know what's not amusing, but rather sad? the comments here. It's wild that people now are upset that the big bad EU is somehow doing something against companies that make profit from selling products that could hurt people, products targeted for kids that can poison or kill them, but the main issue, as seen by tech people, is the EU targeting Temu...
  - alexaholic 4mo ago
    If you believe the EU cares about kids, then yeah, I guess you could say it's sad to talk about the EU targeting Temu. If you believe the EU cares about the EU economy, then I think it's absolutely relevant to talk about the EU targeting Temu.
- maccard 4mo ago
  If you know of one of those shops report them to your local trading standards.
- pjc50 4mo ago
  This is one press release. It tells us nothing about how much other enforcement action has taken place, much of which is supposed to be local. The EU does not care about individual corner shops, report them to your local trading standards body. (I also find it odd how we get lots of nationalist complaints from the US on here when EU rules are applied to US companies; now EU rules are being applied to a Chinese company and people are still complaining?)
seydor 4mo ago
I've been buying everything i can think of from temu for a year now , in anticipation of it surely being outlawed in the EU. That time has come.
- jonkoops 4mo ago
  Well, enjoy your plastic toys and clothes that are full of known carcinogens I guess.
- nutjob2 4mo ago
  It's not being outlawed but made more expensive via a 3 euro fee attached to every item purchased.
spwa4 4mo ago
So they let sellers from china, and reseller platforms, get away with violating safety laws for 3 years (just Temu), have 50 BILLION euro in revenue (about 3-4 billion in profit for the platform itself) from those products and then charge them 200 Million for the crime? Can European companies demand equal treatment? Wait, no, I know the answer to that.
- crote 4mo ago
  Yes, because it is the start of enforcement. That's how it works, not just a one-and-done slap on the wrist. If they don't fix it, it'll eventually continue to the "20% of worldwide revenue" kind of fine everyone on HN was so afraid of when the GDPR was introduced. But that's not what it starts with.
  - tormeh 4mo ago
    This is a key observation and I also remember those dumb discussions. The top end of the fine scale is more or less theoretical if you demonstrate any willingness to improve. Looks like Temu has engaged in really bad practices, and they still only get what's (to them) a gentle reminder that there are rules.
  - LunaSea 4mo ago
    It will never continue to 20% of worldwide revenue. No matter how long they refuse to comply with EU laws for. GDPR has been a farce in terms of enforcement.
    - tpm 4mo ago
      Because the GDPR enforcement is left to privacy agencies in the members states. The DSA is enforced at the EU level, so that might actually work.
      - spwa4 4mo ago
        Also a big problem is that the GPDR is a law in the style of all EU laws: 1) they are NOT laws. Despite what's published everywhere you get zero legal rights from the GPDR. A legal right is some right you have, and if someone violates that right you can ask a court to intervene. With the GPDR, there is no such right. No court will help you under the GPDR. The executives of member state governments (and ~40 "international organizations", most famously Interpol) have the right to enforce GPDR. You can only complain to these new, totally separate from any other enforcement mechanism (ie. they're not police) organizations. And they, of course, generally don't listen. If you go check the complaints lists are full of people complaining that their medical files were leaked by hospitals (because private doctors are in revolt to the GPDR) to various other government organizations, with very large consequences. For instance medical files being used to decide on insurance status, immigration status, unemployment/long term illness status, and family law status. There is no reaction to this, even when it does violate the GPDR. And my next paragraph is why it generally doesn't. Second, the executives of member state governments have the right NOT to enforce GPDR. Specifically, the executive has the right to grant exceptions to the GPDR to any organization they want (including transitively: allowing a government contractor not only violate the GPDR themselves but to allow anyone else they use to violate the GPDR. For example, this is the reason Google, Amazon and Microsoft have essentially all medical files of everyone in the EU, and Palantir has some 20%) These exceptions are made transitively AND after-the-fact. Neither of which is legal, but the only one who can complain is the government itself. 2) It means there is no point for individuals to file GPDR complaints. Normally there is "1831", which is a legal principle which refers to a particular law. Essentially that if you damage someone else by violating the law, you are responsible for that damage (ie. you can be made to pay for them). This applies to essentially every EU law. But not GPDR (and also not to other famous EU laws like DMA) To illustrate the common problem: you go to the hospital, because you took drugs. Maybe you're scared it'll have serious consequences, whatever. Now you go to your insurance ... and they will no longer cover your treatment for heart arythmia. "It's your own fault, because you did drugs". Now what happened is that the hospital updated your medical file, and sent it to the government. Medical insurance is national, so they have access to medical files. Of course, it is a VERY serious GPDR violation that the information leaked, and with any other law this would mean that a judge will convict the hospital to pay for what you lost, say in this case, they would be forced to pay, WITHOUT the insurance covering it, your heart treatment. Not with the GPDR. Even if you get the government to go after it, and you get them convicted, you get nothing. Nor is the insurance forced to change their decision. This is how most new EU law works. The crucial difference is that for essentially all these laws, the EU commission holds all the cards. They then use their position of power to negotiate and come to an understanding with all these organizations. That's how they work, how they've always worked. And it's one more reason I'm very opposed to the EU. Europeans will THOROUGLY regret giving the commission this power, that's a certainty in my mind. Specifically what the commission does is to give companies exceptions to these rules. For example, Teresa Ribera, as well as Ursula Von Der Leyen, personally (and without any parliament approval) have the right to extend Apple's exemption to the DMA (and thus Apple's 30% cut to all transactions involving an iPhone in the EU). Both were born rich (Ursula Von Der Leyen is a member of a noble family that has been very wealthy for at least 400 years. Notably, her family's wealth survived WW2 in Germany ...) How is such enormous power in the hands of individuals used? Well, look up how and why a communist served for 8 years as the chairman of Goldman Sachs International.
sunshine-o 4mo ago
Yes, but who is fining the commision? The best way to fight Temu would be to maintain a society where young people are not so desperate that the only comfort they can afford is to order the cheapest crap online.
- johanvts 4mo ago
  The TEMU shoppers I know are all older and plenty rich and just basically don’t realize/comprehend that there is a cost to shopping low quality toxic garbage beyond what the see on their receipt. I don’t think cost of living crisis is fueling TEMU, its the desire for unbounded consumption + gamification of shopping.
esnard 4mo ago
Also discussed here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48307237 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48307237
schnitzelstoat 4mo ago
It seems like quite a light punishment for selling such dangerous products that could literally kill people. The dodgy e-bike batteries have already been linked to several fires. bigclivedotcom takes apart some of the Temu stuff on YouTube and some of the electronics is atrocious.
- 1-more 4mo ago
  They sell adapters to turn oil cans into silencers. Each one should be a violation of the National Firearms Act and subject to up to a half million dollar fine https://www.atf.gov/media/25071/download https://www.atf.gov/media/25071/download Nota bened; these are not per-se illegal, but you need to sell them through a firearms dealer and pay for an ATF tax stamp and only in states that have not banned them/all NFA items.
  - thenthenthen 4mo ago
    This. Same for the Chinese mainland app, some wild stuff like that being sold (firearms are highly regulated, but 1:1 copies seem to be ok, maybe because of the high level of regulation?)
  - gambiting 4mo ago
    And hundred-watt lasers sold as "obstacle removers" that can blind people in less than a second from considerable distance.
- victorbjorklund 4mo ago
  Check will prowse. Western brands aren’t that much better.
  - aDyslecticCrow 4mo ago
    But western brands can be sued or made liable with fines when a house burns down, which force them a minimum level of caution or risk-assessment when designing and selling their product. A random Chinese drop-shipper that vanish into smoke cannot, so all we can do is force the distributor take that responsibility in their place. So Temu should be sued if a house burns down from a generic-brand e-bike that they imported and took money for.
deleted 4mo ago
[deleted]
kvgr 4mo ago
I am very pro free market, but Temu with data harvesting and selling illegal projects should be banned together with tiktok...
- holistio 4mo ago
  If you're "pro free market, but", you're not pro free market. That's fine, but you might want to reevaluate whether you're actually for it.
  - s_dev 4mo ago
    The US and China have standards as well and bodies to regulate them. Regulation vs Free Market debate isn't a binary issue and is a spectrum.
  - lokar 4mo ago
    Free markets can have strong rules. No other than Adam Smith said they are needed.
    - hilariously 4mo ago
      I would even go further and say that the term really has to be almost "equal" - equal access, equal rules, equal legislation or the market isn't really free.
- ale 4mo ago
  I’d start with the immense packaging waste and shameless overconsumption tricks that are banned in basically any other industry.
- thesmtsolver2 4mo ago
  Doesn’t TEMU have CCP ties? Free market is for businesses and individuals and foreign govt entities should not unfairly benefit from a free market.
  - thenthenthen 4mo ago
manoDev 4mo ago
Isn't there some kind of law to disallow imports without a CE / RoHS / etc label? Why allow it to enter the EU, and then fine the seller afterwards?
- MobiusHorizons 4mo ago
  Are you suggesting opening every package to check for a CE? I think fining after the fact is how those laws are enforced.
  - GJim 4mo ago
    > Are you suggesting opening every package to check for a CE? In the old days, when an importer purchased Chinese goods in bulk and resold them, import checks were commonplace.... AND the importer was legally responsible for paying import duties and selling goods to the public that were legal and met safety standards. Now that any individual can order direct from China (with cheap subsidised postage!), the floodgates of untaxed and dangerous shite are open. One solution is to address the subsidised postage that makes this state of affairs possible.
    - lokar 4mo ago
      Require the recipient affirm the package meets all legal requirements, and personally assume liability for any violation.
      - mc32 4mo ago
        That’s unworkable: asking a recipient unfamiliar with producers to know whether producer is reputable or not in advance and if the producer is unscrupulous you expect every affected buyer to follow up or be in violation of importation laws?
        lokar 4mo ago
        If you are not sure, buy from within the EU from an importer who deals with this. The old system of spot inspections worked because most import volume was from known, repeat importers.
jordiburgos 4mo ago
Why there is a difference between selling and allowing to sell? If the product is sold in your site, you must be responsible of it.
- madeofpalk 4mo ago
  Isn't this being held responsible for it?
- another-dave 4mo ago
  they are responsible for it, but it's useful in reporting to differentiate between "fulfilled by" and "bought through"
- hydrogen7800 4mo ago
  > If the product is sold in your site, you must be responsible of it. But this is an internet store.
  - aDyslecticCrow 4mo ago
    So we should give up regulating them? All stored are internet stores.
    - hydrogen7800 4mo ago
      No, I'm just being glib in expressing the frustration that it seems impossible to hold them to the same rules as brick and mortar stores.
- SoftTalker 4mo ago
  Yes, this "section 230" treatment of online platforms is at the core of why social media and the internet in general is full of garbage. If you sell something on your site, or allow users to post something on your site, you should have some liability for the consequences.
Bolin-Weng_666 4mo ago
[flagged]
pseudopolous 4mo ago
[flagged]
- lokar 4mo ago
  I don’t understand, can you explain?
  - sham1 4mo ago
    Racism. They seem to be irritated about the existence of migrants and member countries not being allowed to tread on their human rights.
- lava_pidgeon 4mo ago
  I disagree that the EU allows illegals to enter it's territory. There are many many prohibitive measures
alephnerd 4mo ago
This has been going on for a year now. The EU began enforcing a small parcel tax directly against Temu last May [0] and France has been strongly lobbying against Shein and Temu [1]. The EU has also made Chinese overproduction a critical topic of discussion for EU-China relations [2][3], and barring Temu and Shein is backed by both unions and industrial groups within Europe [4]. All of this is linking to the EU's strategy of playing hardball against Chinese support of Russia's invasion of Ukraine [5][6], as well as pushing back against the Chinese perception that the EU is a has-been [7] as well as conducting an active info-war against a European state [8]. [0] - https://www.ft.com/content/102e18d7-d06b-4405-a347-97bb3c37318b?syn-25a6b1a6=1 https://www.ft.com/content/102e18d7-d06b-4405-a347-97bb3c373... [1] - https://www.ft.com/content/b1fdbad1-2793-4975-a10b-74bb928d3b13?syn-25a6b1a6=1 https://www.ft.com/content/b1fdbad1-2793-4975-a10b-74bb928d3... [2] - https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/society-equity/eu-lawmakers-press-china-unsafe-products-rare-beijing-visit-2026-04-01/ https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/society-equity/eu-law... [3] - https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20260326IPR39405/china-visit-sustainable-e-commerce-fair-competition-and-product-safety https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20260326IP... [4] - https://www.lemonde.fr/economie/article/2025/09/15/les-industriels-europeens-du-textile-pressent-l-ue-d-agir-contre-les-plateformes-chinoises-comme-shein_6641258_3234.html https://www.lemonde.fr/economie/article/2025/09/15/les-indus... [5] - https://www.bruegel.org/podcast/how-war-ukraine-reshaping-eu-china-relations https://www.bruegel.org/podcast/how-war-ukraine-reshaping-eu... [6] - https://www.osw.waw.pl/en/publikacje/osw-commentary/2025-01-20/three-years-war-ukraine-chinese-russian-alliance-passes-test https://www.osw.waw.pl/en/publikacje/osw-commentary/2025-01-... [7] - https://fddi.fudan.edu.cn/_t2515/57/f8/c21257a743416/page.htm https://fddi.fudan.edu.cn/_t2515/57/f8/c21257a743416/page.ht... [8] - https://www.defense.gouv.fr/desinformation/nos-analyses-froid/decryptage-desinformation-au-service-competition-industrielle https://www.defense.gouv.fr/desinformation/nos-analyses-froi...
- f6v 4mo ago
  > Chinese overproduction a critical topic of discussion for EU-China relations Ah of course, I do want the state regulating what I can and cannot buy when it comes to junk. Only approved goods should be allowed.
exabrial 4mo ago
I mean that was the whole point of Temu... buy shit dirt cheap because over-regulation harms the consumer.
acd 4mo ago
Big corp penny slap on the fingers. I dont this amount will change behaviour or incentive to make larger profit.
- amelius 4mo ago
  A real slap on the wrist of the CEO by a wronged customer would leave a more lasting impression.
- alephnerd 4mo ago
  It sets precedent, and has already led to a (by Chinese foreign policy standards) fairly vicious response [0][1][2]. This is also part of the EU's larger tariffs against China [3]. [0] - https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202605/1361926.shtml https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202605/1361926.shtml [1] - https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202605/1362200.shtml https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202605/1362200.shtml [2] - https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202605/1362161.shtml https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202605/1362161.shtml [3] - https://www.ft.com/content/e28fe696-ac30-4543-a105-febc82789f87?syn-25a6b1a6=1 https://www.ft.com/content/e28fe696-ac30-4543-a105-febc82789...
  - B1FF_PSUVM 4mo ago
    > [0] Ahah, China going Adam Smith on the EU. Peacefully, so far. Let's hope they don't go "opium war" on free trade.
    - alephnerd 4mo ago
      That's already happening with synthetic drugs [0] and the Ukraine War [1]. [0] - https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/01/30/china-traffics-chemicals-to-europes-15bn-drugs-labs/ https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/01/30/china-traf... [1] - https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/russians-covertly-trained-by-china-return-fight-ukraine-sources-say-2026-05-19/ https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/russians-...
    - throw-the-towel 4mo ago
      > while French President Emmanuel Macron even suggested following US-style measures akin to the "Section 301" tariffs. > A major source of this latest wave of the so-called "China shock" narrative is the claim that the EU's trade deficit with China reached 360 billion euros in 2025. These are the same people whose collective knickers are getting in a twist over Trump, mind you.
econ 4mo ago
This is something like an individual being fined $200? Seems fine
ChrisArchitect 4mo ago
[dupe] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48307237 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48307237
theragra 4mo ago
Temu also should be fined for predatory marketing. Not sure if laws exist, but dark patterns are everywhere. I try to a avoid Temu, but they have some good traits, too, like quick and convinient shipping.
- hulitu 4mo ago
  > Not sure if laws exist, but dark patterns are everywhere. I bet you never heard of Microsoft or Google.
  - theragra 3mo ago
    I dunno, Temu is worse. They use "lootboxes", that's something very hard to imagine in MS or Google products.
dsign 4mo ago
Say what you may of Temu, and I do think more vetting of certain goods is a good idea, but they fill a very real need. In the part of Europe where I live, the choice is only between intermediaries for the same products coming from China. The local intermediaries sell a very limited picking at staggering margins. And when it comes to certain things, like electronic components, the choice is between importing (old) American stock with a German company as the intermediary, and that's $$$$ and many weeks of shipping, or using Temu or Aliexpress. There's something unpleasantly snobbish with the way business is done here, a spirit of "if you have to ask the price, our business is not for you". For example, in Instagram, "Local offerings" pop up all the time in the feed. The ones which are truly local end up in a "call us to know more" button, no pricing info disclosed. The ones that show actual prices tend to be shell companies with no employees, no doubt a thin wrapper around an importer from Asia.
- lnxg33k1 4mo ago
  [flagged]
- whimsicalism 4mo ago
  yes, i'm very in favor of the shift towards direct-to-consumer among chinese retailers, but that might be because i'm not actually all that sympathetic to small business
  - ryandrake 4mo ago
    I recently bought some custom-built pool lighting directly from the manufacturer in Ningbo, and I have to say, the sales, delivery, and customer support I received was top notch. Their representatives were fluent in English and competent, the product quality was excellent (yes, I carefully inspected it upon receipt because it's going into water), and the entire process from measurement to delivery was fast and smooth. And, of course, the price was right.
    - BrtByte 4mo ago
      In a way it makes the Temu problem more frustrating
petarvasilev 4mo ago
[dead]
happyPersonR 4mo ago
Does Amazon or eBay get the same fine? Haha it’s the same people on all of these sites …. Just some dropshipping ?
- input_sh 4mo ago
  Amazon is also under investigation under DSA, eBay is not big enough (in the EU) to matter under this law.
- zipy124 4mo ago
  I've been done by illegal electronics on Amazon too many times. They don't seem to care at all. You can still buy chargers on them that are in an advisory red list on gov UK....
  - nerdyadventurer 4mo ago
    I'm not against consumer protection but these moves seem political, Europe hate China just like Russia, they want to counter China economically. Otherwise why fine out of the blue when this had been going for years. And what about western countries violate those laws, lobbied or deliberately turning a blind eye.
Jerry2 4mo ago
The EU is only good at imposing massive fines and they like to regulate technologies they have not created and don't even host them. TEMO will more than likely just pass the cost of this onto EU consumers.
- OKRainbowKid 4mo ago
  As an EU consumer, I appreciate laws and regulations that ban selling cheap junk that might burn my house down or poison my baby. I take it you don't?
  - w4zz 4mo ago
    In my limited experience not all countries do think like this.
    - tialaramex 4mo ago
      It's a cultural thing yeah. Americans genuinely do on the whole think that their approach is better. The good news I guess is that if you're an American and you think "Well I don't" you can (at least for now†) just leave. † If you lived in the German Democratic Republic (aka "East Germany") in 1950 you could literally just walk to West Germany, by 1961 all other borders are closed and fenced and in Berlin the Wall is up and people who try to escape are being executed routinely. This didn't happen instantly over night, but it took about a decade to go from routine to "Vast majority of people who attempt it are killed".
      - toast0 4mo ago
        I mean, in America we have similar regulations. Toys aren't allowed to burn down houses or poison babies. You have to get dietary supplements if you want to poison babies. Enforcement on individually shipped imports is hard regardless of where you are. Traditionally enforcement is through spot checks of bulk imports, and leaning hard on the importer who has a clear nexus.
- joe463369 4mo ago
0cf8612b2e1e 4mo ago
… which found that a high percentage of chargers purchased through Temu failed basic electrical safety tests. It also found that a high proportion of baby toys posed safety risks, containing chemicals above legal limits or featuring small detachable parts that presented suffocation hazards… Boring. I can probably find the exact same on Amazon. From the headline, I was hoping the list of illegal products was going to be something like enriched plutonium, RPGs, Lawn Darts, etc
- mfld 4mo ago
  Maybe for marketplace articles shipped from outside the EU. It's not legal, so Amazon will surely have a close look (for directly sold items), as well as any company shipping from within the EU.
- NoGravitas 4mo ago
  The US is going to be selling weapons-grade plutonium to startups, so you may get your chance before long. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/26/climate/plutonium-nuclear-weapons-fuel.html https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/26/climate/plutonium-nuclear...
maxglute 4mo ago
How many dead babies or battery fires post Temu, seems like good opportunity to conduct a before/after study on cost:ratio of EU regulations.
j0ba 4mo ago
EU is a fine organization
- f6v 4mo ago
  Feels like the EU is always going to find something to fine you over. Think of it as a tax. The purpose is compensating for the lack of notable domestic tech giants.
  - Ylpertnodi 4mo ago
    And stopping Temu from passing on junk, as in this case.
    - woadwarrior01 4mo ago
      Amazon passes on the same junk, albeit at 2-5x the price.
    - jeppester 4mo ago
      That's the thing with these fines. 19/20 times they make a lot of sense. But even so, there will be people saying "but why not this other org" to which the answer is "Yes! Hand out more fines", not "it's unfair, so just let everyone break the law".
pickleballcourt 4mo ago
I’m curious if its actually difficult or trivial for Temu to enforce
- ninth_ant 4mo ago
  It’s not simply difficult, it’s an existential threat to their current business model. Unless I’m missing something obvious, enforcing regulatory compliance from the army of hustlers that is their vendor market would be expensive or impossible.
nickff 4mo ago
The EU's approach to imports from PRoC is the regulatory equivalent of trying to 'test your way to quality' (which Deming showed to be nearly impossible). Attempts to use regulatory fines and prosecutions to ensure compliance from PRoC products is a whack-a-mole exercise which will fail.
- miohtama 4mo ago
  Even if it fails maybe you can get some political scores in the process to get elected again.
- ahartmetz 4mo ago
  By the same logic, attempts to use policing to ensure lawfulness are a whack-a-mole exercise which will fail. So what else are you going to do? Paperwork up front for every single product?
  - RobotToaster 4mo ago
    > By the same logic, attempts to use policing to ensure lawfulness are a whack-a-mole exercise which will fail. That's basically how drugs won the war on drugs, yes.
    - ahartmetz 4mo ago
      But you can't legalize all crime. Drugs are special because they are (sort of) victimless.
      - cubefox 4mo ago
        Drugs are absolutely not victimless, except perhaps for caffeine.
        bit-anarchist 4mo ago
        But they are.
pacman1337 4mo ago
The past making quality clothing was difficult, cutting it right, sourcing the right patterns designs materials, stitching it took care etc. In our world making quality clothing should be easy with all the technology but what we see in bad quality that you wash a few times and it is trash. It is uglier designs than in the past etc. It makes no sense. It is like a conspiracy where people don't want to sell quality clothes at a fair price. Like all companies got together and decided we will sell crap clothes at cheap prices and good clothes at extortion prices. There is zero correlation with actual costs.
- rahimnathwani 4mo ago
  Just go to Uniqlo.
BrtByte 4mo ago
The fine seems less interesting than the compliance deadline
Eric_Bulai 4mo ago
This news has been circulating on the internet for a long time and it is indeed real, but the question is, if people want to buy something, they will look for alternatives.
- BrtByte 4mo ago
  People will definitely look for alternatives, but that doesn't make regulation pointless
  - PowerElectronix 4mo ago
    It helps funding the EU and little else.
    - Eric_Bulai 4mo ago
      Regulation slows down the problem, but demand creates the solution so it doesn't really matter.
      - dangus 4mo ago
        This is a nuance-free take. There’s zero demand for products that are hiding safety issues that nobody was seeking out (e.g., toys with lead paint, batteries that explode) Demand for illegal things isn’t in a vacuum. It’s hard to enact prohibition on alcohol or cannabis (extremely easy to produce) versus prohibiting something more complicated to make, difficult to smuggle, or less desirable to buy. If my government bans Crocs am I going to go through the engineering effort to make them myself? Plus, if I go outside the cops will see my illegal Crocs very quickly. I have plenty of alternatives to Crocs and most of them are better. Most likely, I won’t even think about the ban. We have a good example with incandescent light bulbs. I don’t know anyone who has attempted to violate the ban on home incandescent light bulbs. The whole “everything should be legal anyway because there will always be a black market” philosophy is not a universal truth and we need to stop assuming that it makes sense.
        4mo ago
londons_explore 4mo ago
Did they actually sell $200M of illegal products, or is this a number plucked from thin air?
- deleted 4mo ago
  [deleted]
- ericmay 4mo ago
  Why would they need to sell €200 of illegal products to be fined that same amount?
grizzo 4mo ago
I once bought one of those cheap portable consoles from them (or Aliexpress) and after two month I was given a full refund as the welding of the motherboard contained too much lead. This news really doesn't surprise me that much.
- RobotToaster 4mo ago
  Leaded solder doesn't really pose a health issue to the consumer.
  - aDyslecticCrow 4mo ago
    Neither does; Mercury lamps, Asbestos insulation, Freon refrigerant. It poses issues when disposed off, and is banned for a reason.
Zenst 4mo ago
[flagged]
AllegedAlec 4mo ago
So many China shills running interference and whataboutism...
Scroll_Swe 4mo ago
Good, keep it up. China is literally poisoning us.
nnm 4mo ago
[flagged]
shell0x 4mo ago
Taobao and Temu are great. The quality is not always amazing, but the prices are low and many sellers even offer customisation. In Australia, the product selection is often limited, and a lot of local stores are just reselling Chinese-made products with huge markups anyway. At that point, you may as well order directly from China and save money. It also saves 10% GST.
- markdown 4mo ago
  > It also saves 10% GST. For now. Your local companies hate the competition, and will be lobbying hard to remove de minimis exemptions on imports.
  - _jackdk_ 4mo ago
    Didn't this go through a few years ago? https://www.ato.gov.au/businesses-and-organisations/international-tax-for-business/gst-for-non-resident-businesses/gst-on-low-value-imported-goods https://www.ato.gov.au/businesses-and-organisations/internat... > If you are a non-resident business and you sell goods into Australia with a customs value of A$1,000 or less, GST applies and you will have to collect this from your customer and send the GST to us.
    - deleted 4mo ago
      [deleted]
- askvictor 4mo ago
  Temu charges GST (I presume taobao as well)
- mikrotikker 4mo ago
  Are we still not allowed to call out shills here? Is that still a rule?
varispeed 4mo ago
Why are they not fining Amazon? Plenty of times bought something that obviously was dangerous when inspected more closely and if you posted a bad review, you got threats (e.g. seller would say I know your address, take down the review or else). Report to Amazon would achieve nothing. But I guess if Temu was running government infrastructure they would be off the hook too.
derelicta 4mo ago
I've learnt from a coworker that actually, all the stuff we order from AliExpress is crap they don't sell in their own country. A bit like the Swiss selling their shitty cheese abroad whilst they keep the good stuff for themselves.
protocolture 4mo ago
Temu and Aliexpress do seem to have this covered to an extent. I have noticed significant geoblocking from both companies, mostly in searches and advertisements. I know for instance that Aliexpress has a ton of non compliant (for Australia) toy guns, they send me target ads and everything. But if I click through, they no longer exist, and search results net me nothing. Temus comments about this being for their 2024 store are probably accurate. I honestly wish they were more dodgy tbh.
rldjbpin 4mo ago
we see these headlines all the time, sometimes in a higher oder of magnitude, but are these fines ever actually settled?
Levi_Bennett12 4mo ago
Interesting - I've been testing a few free tier tools lately. How does SerpSpur's backlink freshness compare to something like Ubersuggest or the free version of Ahrefs?
- liam_buildalink 4mo ago
  [flagged]
onesingleblast 4mo ago
Is it really any worse than AliExpress?

352 points by jjp 4mo ago

> Temu has until 28 August 2026 to submit an action plan to the Commission, as required by Article 75 of the DSA. The plan must set out measures to remedy the breach of its risk-assessment obligations. The European Board for Digital Services will have one month from receipt of the plan to issue its opinion. The Commission will then have a further month to adopt its final decision and set a reasonable period for implementation. > Failure to comply with the non-compliance decision may lead to periodic penalty payments. So they're just threatening a fine at this stage? It's not clear to me

nolok 4mo ago
No, it's a fine, but the fine doesn't absolve you from fixing it too so it stops. You have this delay to submit a plan for how and on what timeline you will fix it. If you don't do it, or take too long, we will keep fining you, increasingly. An exemple what how in the old microsoft case they ended up puttin a daily fine for non compliance until microsoft balked back and fixed it (after they tried to act tough and pretended to ignore them). The end goal ultimately is to get it fixed.
- bcjdjsndon 4mo ago
  How do they enforce a fine on a Chinese company? What if temu says "up yours"?
  - mdrzn 4mo ago
    you won't be able to sell in the EU market anymore
    - dylan604 4mo ago
      Doesn’t Temu direct ship to the customer? What if they ship in plain unmarked packaging and keep changing the address of the sender? Is the EU customs peeps just going to start inspecting every single package from China looking for items from Temu? That sounds like a logistical nightmare. This sounds like old school thinking where you can stop whole containers full of stuff from a single supplier.
      - bonzini 4mo ago
        The money has to move from the EU to Temu/Pinduoduo coffers at some point.
      - triceratops 4mo ago
        Smuggling isn't a great business model for legitimate companies.
      - eqvinox 4mo ago
        At some point it's a diplomatic incident and will affect EU-Chinese relationships. Even the Chinese government doesn't want to fuck it up for all Chinese companies just because one of them feels like the rules don't apply to them. It's not like the only goods flowing from China to the EU are cheap trash.
      - markus92 4mo ago
        Temu has EU warehouses they appear to ship from: all return addresses I've seen are EU addresses.
      - tpm 4mo ago
        What logistic company will ship plain unmarked packages? They simply wouldn't be delivered at all. > Is the EU customs peeps just going to start inspecting every single package from China looking for items from Temu? They might, why not. It would be unwise to pick a fight like this for any company.
    - bcjdjsndon 4mo ago
      Say they carry on.... How does EU actually stop people ordering from their website and getting items posted to their house?
      - askl 4mo ago
        Ordering ISPs to DNS block temu would probably be easier and effective enough. Or maybe getting google and apple to make the app not available in the EU.
      - Mashimo 4mo ago
        Maybe going for the money. Forbit EU banks from transferring funds to known Temu accounts.
      - tpm 4mo ago
        There are still borders and customs inspections, that's how.
        bcjdjsndon 4mo ago
        Just in a poxy country like the UK it's millions of parcels a day delivered across multiple ports mostly inside containers.... It's simply not feasible to check it all, it would cost a ton of money to have enough checkers and not slow down deliveries.
        tpm 4mo ago
        That's a failure of the state to control its borders. > it would cost a ton of money That's why the EU is imposing a €3 fixed customs duty per item (and later another €2 handling fee) effective July 1 (should have been much sooner in my opinion) for small packages (under €150), in addition to the VAT.
      - throw_a_grenade 4mo ago
        They'll put them on naughty list that will be enforced by financial institutions, i.e. it will be an infraction for credit card operators to process such a payment. Financial operators have well oiled compliance facilities and the payment won't clear. If Temu won't get the money, they won't ship the parcel. And if they won't ship, then there will be a bit less carcinogens in EU. Good stuff.
  - robin_reala 4mo ago
    I visited Temu from Sweden and clicked on the terms of use, this is the first line: 1.1 These Terms are between you and Whaleco Technology Limited, an Irish company.
purerandomness 4mo ago
Since this is under the "Next Steps" section, it's pretty clear to me that the €200M fine is a fixed one-time fine that was issued now, but further, repeated fines ("periodic") will be issued if the hazard is not removed.
throw_a_grenade 4mo ago
It's actually both: they handed one-time fine for past behaviour (about 200 M€, not final, can and most likely will be appealed and paid in like 10 years or so; cf. Apple tax breaks in Ireland); and threatening more fines if they don't play along in the future. One of the kinds of punishment that Commision can slap (subject to court oversight, ofc) is „daily fines”, which is a fine that accumulates with constant daily rate up to the date the company complies, or some pre-set maximum, which usually calculates to several months, and need to be reissued afterwards (which is an opportunity to double the daily amount, and again, can be appealed to a court).
- gib444 4mo ago
  > not final, can and most likely will be appealed and paid in like 10 years But the EU got some headlines and people believed they came down with an iron first so that's really the most important thing here In my world finest are served when they're actually paid, not threatened
  - throw_a_grenade 4mo ago
    In my world people are innocent until proven guilty before a court of law, twice. Yes, even business people. Executive branch shouldn't be able to just bankrupt a company and tell the owners to go through the courts to maybe recover the money in 10 years, if they're innocent after all. There were several such cases in my country before we joined EU, most high profile one was against Optimus SA (predecessor to CD Projekt), where they just took people's money, without cause as they courts later found. Never again. So the middle ground is, Temu can choose to play hardball all the way to ECJ, but if they are wrong (they are and they know it), the cost will be substantial (200 M€ + interest + daily fines + interest). So I think they'll enter talks, pay 200 M€ and pinky promise to delist offending items.
    - gib444 4mo ago
      Just to be clear, you're so desperate to disagree with me or be contrary that you're saying that people need to be convicted by a court twice for the same crime for real justice to be properly served?

big85 4mo ago

> Evidence from a mystery shopping exercise included in the Commission's investigation shows that a very high percentage of the selected chargers failed basic safety tests, while a high percentage of tested baby toys posed safety risks of medium to high severity, as they contain chemicals exceeding legal safety limits or pose suffocation hazards due to detachable parts. > Under the DSA, designated Very Large Online Platforms are required to diligently assess systemic risks linked to their services and adopt corresponding mitigation measures.

throwa356262 4mo ago
Is temu much worse than amazon here?
- HPsquared 4mo ago
  There's a lot of work to be done.
- embedding-shape 4mo ago
  Probably yeah, Amazon already had long exposure to the regulations from EU and European countries, they surely have some won lessons from these years, compared to Temu which is relatively new and might still be learning how things work, apparently. Temu is what, 3-4 years old or something?
  - bonzini 4mo ago
    "compared to Temu that does not give a damn by design" would be more accurate.
    - embedding-shape 4mo ago
      I mean the same goes for most US companies, every time they first arrive in Europe they stumble around breaking laws and what not until they get fined to act properly, happened a bunch of times before, most famous examples being Uber and AirBnb, but Amazon been in trouble for the same thing in the past too.

alexaholic 4mo ago

[flagged]

alibarber 4mo ago
This is about illegally dangerous products (banned chemicals, dangerous baby toys, crappy mains chargers) specifically. The stuff that makes for exciting viewing on Big Clive's YouTube channel. Local importers, shops and marketplaces selling such stuff do often get hit by national enforcement. Not enough in my opinion - but this isn't about just targeting Teemu for the normal commodities that you can indeed buy anywhere else.
mns 4mo ago
But you know what's not amusing, but rather sad? the comments here. It's wild that people now are upset that the big bad EU is somehow doing something against companies that make profit from selling products that could hurt people, products targeted for kids that can poison or kill them, but the main issue, as seen by tech people, is the EU targeting Temu...
- alexaholic 4mo ago
  If you believe the EU cares about kids, then yeah, I guess you could say it's sad to talk about the EU targeting Temu. If you believe the EU cares about the EU economy, then I think it's absolutely relevant to talk about the EU targeting Temu.
maccard 4mo ago
If you know of one of those shops report them to your local trading standards.
pjc50 4mo ago
This is one press release. It tells us nothing about how much other enforcement action has taken place, much of which is supposed to be local. The EU does not care about individual corner shops, report them to your local trading standards body. (I also find it odd how we get lots of nationalist complaints from the US on here when EU rules are applied to US companies; now EU rules are being applied to a Chinese company and people are still complaining?)

seydor 4mo ago

I've been buying everything i can think of from temu for a year now , in anticipation of it surely being outlawed in the EU. That time has come.

jonkoops 4mo ago
Well, enjoy your plastic toys and clothes that are full of known carcinogens I guess.
nutjob2 4mo ago
It's not being outlawed but made more expensive via a 3 euro fee attached to every item purchased.

spwa4 4mo ago

So they let sellers from china, and reseller platforms, get away with violating safety laws for 3 years (just Temu), have 50 BILLION euro in revenue (about 3-4 billion in profit for the platform itself) from those products and then charge them 200 Million for the crime? Can European companies demand equal treatment? Wait, no, I know the answer to that.

crote 4mo ago
Yes, because it is the start of enforcement. That's how it works, not just a one-and-done slap on the wrist. If they don't fix it, it'll eventually continue to the "20% of worldwide revenue" kind of fine everyone on HN was so afraid of when the GDPR was introduced. But that's not what it starts with.
- tormeh 4mo ago
  This is a key observation and I also remember those dumb discussions. The top end of the fine scale is more or less theoretical if you demonstrate any willingness to improve. Looks like Temu has engaged in really bad practices, and they still only get what's (to them) a gentle reminder that there are rules.
- LunaSea 4mo ago
  It will never continue to 20% of worldwide revenue. No matter how long they refuse to comply with EU laws for. GDPR has been a farce in terms of enforcement.
  - tpm 4mo ago
    Because the GDPR enforcement is left to privacy agencies in the members states. The DSA is enforced at the EU level, so that might actually work.
    - spwa4 4mo ago
      Also a big problem is that the GPDR is a law in the style of all EU laws: 1) they are NOT laws. Despite what's published everywhere you get zero legal rights from the GPDR. A legal right is some right you have, and if someone violates that right you can ask a court to intervene. With the GPDR, there is no such right. No court will help you under the GPDR. The executives of member state governments (and ~40 "international organizations", most famously Interpol) have the right to enforce GPDR. You can only complain to these new, totally separate from any other enforcement mechanism (ie. they're not police) organizations. And they, of course, generally don't listen. If you go check the complaints lists are full of people complaining that their medical files were leaked by hospitals (because private doctors are in revolt to the GPDR) to various other government organizations, with very large consequences. For instance medical files being used to decide on insurance status, immigration status, unemployment/long term illness status, and family law status. There is no reaction to this, even when it does violate the GPDR. And my next paragraph is why it generally doesn't. Second, the executives of member state governments have the right NOT to enforce GPDR. Specifically, the executive has the right to grant exceptions to the GPDR to any organization they want (including transitively: allowing a government contractor not only violate the GPDR themselves but to allow anyone else they use to violate the GPDR. For example, this is the reason Google, Amazon and Microsoft have essentially all medical files of everyone in the EU, and Palantir has some 20%) These exceptions are made transitively AND after-the-fact. Neither of which is legal, but the only one who can complain is the government itself. 2) It means there is no point for individuals to file GPDR complaints. Normally there is "1831", which is a legal principle which refers to a particular law. Essentially that if you damage someone else by violating the law, you are responsible for that damage (ie. you can be made to pay for them). This applies to essentially every EU law. But not GPDR (and also not to other famous EU laws like DMA) To illustrate the common problem: you go to the hospital, because you took drugs. Maybe you're scared it'll have serious consequences, whatever. Now you go to your insurance ... and they will no longer cover your treatment for heart arythmia. "It's your own fault, because you did drugs". Now what happened is that the hospital updated your medical file, and sent it to the government. Medical insurance is national, so they have access to medical files. Of course, it is a VERY serious GPDR violation that the information leaked, and with any other law this would mean that a judge will convict the hospital to pay for what you lost, say in this case, they would be forced to pay, WITHOUT the insurance covering it, your heart treatment. Not with the GPDR. Even if you get the government to go after it, and you get them convicted, you get nothing. Nor is the insurance forced to change their decision. This is how most new EU law works. The crucial difference is that for essentially all these laws, the EU commission holds all the cards. They then use their position of power to negotiate and come to an understanding with all these organizations. That's how they work, how they've always worked. And it's one more reason I'm very opposed to the EU. Europeans will THOROUGLY regret giving the commission this power, that's a certainty in my mind. Specifically what the commission does is to give companies exceptions to these rules. For example, Teresa Ribera, as well as Ursula Von Der Leyen, personally (and without any parliament approval) have the right to extend Apple's exemption to the DMA (and thus Apple's 30% cut to all transactions involving an iPhone in the EU). Both were born rich (Ursula Von Der Leyen is a member of a noble family that has been very wealthy for at least 400 years. Notably, her family's wealth survived WW2 in Germany ...) How is such enormous power in the hands of individuals used? Well, look up how and why a communist served for 8 years as the chairman of Goldman Sachs International.

sunshine-o 4mo ago

Yes, but who is fining the commision? The best way to fight Temu would be to maintain a society where young people are not so desperate that the only comfort they can afford is to order the cheapest crap online.

johanvts 4mo ago
The TEMU shoppers I know are all older and plenty rich and just basically don’t realize/comprehend that there is a cost to shopping low quality toxic garbage beyond what the see on their receipt. I don’t think cost of living crisis is fueling TEMU, its the desire for unbounded consumption + gamification of shopping.

esnard 4mo ago

Also discussed here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48307237 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48307237

schnitzelstoat 4mo ago

It seems like quite a light punishment for selling such dangerous products that could literally kill people. The dodgy e-bike batteries have already been linked to several fires. bigclivedotcom takes apart some of the Temu stuff on YouTube and some of the electronics is atrocious.

1-more 4mo ago
They sell adapters to turn oil cans into silencers. Each one should be a violation of the National Firearms Act and subject to up to a half million dollar fine https://www.atf.gov/media/25071/download https://www.atf.gov/media/25071/download Nota bened; these are not per-se illegal, but you need to sell them through a firearms dealer and pay for an ATF tax stamp and only in states that have not banned them/all NFA items.
- thenthenthen 4mo ago
  This. Same for the Chinese mainland app, some wild stuff like that being sold (firearms are highly regulated, but 1:1 copies seem to be ok, maybe because of the high level of regulation?)
- gambiting 4mo ago
  And hundred-watt lasers sold as "obstacle removers" that can blind people in less than a second from considerable distance.
victorbjorklund 4mo ago
Check will prowse. Western brands aren’t that much better.
- aDyslecticCrow 4mo ago
  But western brands can be sued or made liable with fines when a house burns down, which force them a minimum level of caution or risk-assessment when designing and selling their product. A random Chinese drop-shipper that vanish into smoke cannot, so all we can do is force the distributor take that responsibility in their place. So Temu should be sued if a house burns down from a generic-brand e-bike that they imported and took money for.

deleted 4mo ago

[deleted]

kvgr 4mo ago

I am very pro free market, but Temu with data harvesting and selling illegal projects should be banned together with tiktok...

holistio 4mo ago
If you're "pro free market, but", you're not pro free market. That's fine, but you might want to reevaluate whether you're actually for it.
- s_dev 4mo ago
  The US and China have standards as well and bodies to regulate them. Regulation vs Free Market debate isn't a binary issue and is a spectrum.
- lokar 4mo ago
  Free markets can have strong rules. No other than Adam Smith said they are needed.
  - hilariously 4mo ago
    I would even go further and say that the term really has to be almost "equal" - equal access, equal rules, equal legislation or the market isn't really free.
ale 4mo ago
I’d start with the immense packaging waste and shameless overconsumption tricks that are banned in basically any other industry.
thesmtsolver2 4mo ago
Doesn’t TEMU have CCP ties? Free market is for businesses and individuals and foreign govt entities should not unfairly benefit from a free market.
- thenthenthen 4mo ago

manoDev 4mo ago

Isn't there some kind of law to disallow imports without a CE / RoHS / etc label? Why allow it to enter the EU, and then fine the seller afterwards?

MobiusHorizons 4mo ago
Are you suggesting opening every package to check for a CE? I think fining after the fact is how those laws are enforced.
- GJim 4mo ago
  > Are you suggesting opening every package to check for a CE? In the old days, when an importer purchased Chinese goods in bulk and resold them, import checks were commonplace.... AND the importer was legally responsible for paying import duties and selling goods to the public that were legal and met safety standards. Now that any individual can order direct from China (with cheap subsidised postage!), the floodgates of untaxed and dangerous shite are open. One solution is to address the subsidised postage that makes this state of affairs possible.
  - lokar 4mo ago
    Require the recipient affirm the package meets all legal requirements, and personally assume liability for any violation.
    - mc32 4mo ago
      That’s unworkable: asking a recipient unfamiliar with producers to know whether producer is reputable or not in advance and if the producer is unscrupulous you expect every affected buyer to follow up or be in violation of importation laws?
      - lokar 4mo ago
        If you are not sure, buy from within the EU from an importer who deals with this. The old system of spot inspections worked because most import volume was from known, repeat importers.

jordiburgos 4mo ago

Why there is a difference between selling and allowing to sell? If the product is sold in your site, you must be responsible of it.

madeofpalk 4mo ago
Isn't this being held responsible for it?
another-dave 4mo ago
they are responsible for it, but it's useful in reporting to differentiate between "fulfilled by" and "bought through"
hydrogen7800 4mo ago
> If the product is sold in your site, you must be responsible of it. But this is an internet store.
- aDyslecticCrow 4mo ago
  So we should give up regulating them? All stored are internet stores.
  - hydrogen7800 4mo ago
    No, I'm just being glib in expressing the frustration that it seems impossible to hold them to the same rules as brick and mortar stores.
SoftTalker 4mo ago
Yes, this "section 230" treatment of online platforms is at the core of why social media and the internet in general is full of garbage. If you sell something on your site, or allow users to post something on your site, you should have some liability for the consequences.

Bolin-Weng_666 4mo ago

[flagged]

pseudopolous 4mo ago

[flagged]

lokar 4mo ago
I don’t understand, can you explain?
- sham1 4mo ago
  Racism. They seem to be irritated about the existence of migrants and member countries not being allowed to tread on their human rights.
lava_pidgeon 4mo ago
I disagree that the EU allows illegals to enter it's territory. There are many many prohibitive measures

alephnerd 4mo ago

This has been going on for a year now. The EU began enforcing a small parcel tax directly against Temu last May [0] and France has been strongly lobbying against Shein and Temu [1]. The EU has also made Chinese overproduction a critical topic of discussion for EU-China relations [2][3], and barring Temu and Shein is backed by both unions and industrial groups within Europe [4]. All of this is linking to the EU's strategy of playing hardball against Chinese support of Russia's invasion of Ukraine [5][6], as well as pushing back against the Chinese perception that the EU is a has-been [7] as well as conducting an active info-war against a European state [8]. [0] - https://www.ft.com/content/102e18d7-d06b-4405-a347-97bb3c37318b?syn-25a6b1a6=1 https://www.ft.com/content/102e18d7-d06b-4405-a347-97bb3c373... [1] - https://www.ft.com/content/b1fdbad1-2793-4975-a10b-74bb928d3b13?syn-25a6b1a6=1 https://www.ft.com/content/b1fdbad1-2793-4975-a10b-74bb928d3... [2] - https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/society-equity/eu-lawmakers-press-china-unsafe-products-rare-beijing-visit-2026-04-01/ https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/society-equity/eu-law... [3] - https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20260326IPR39405/china-visit-sustainable-e-commerce-fair-competition-and-product-safety https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20260326IP... [4] - https://www.lemonde.fr/economie/article/2025/09/15/les-industriels-europeens-du-textile-pressent-l-ue-d-agir-contre-les-plateformes-chinoises-comme-shein_6641258_3234.html https://www.lemonde.fr/economie/article/2025/09/15/les-indus... [5] - https://www.bruegel.org/podcast/how-war-ukraine-reshaping-eu-china-relations https://www.bruegel.org/podcast/how-war-ukraine-reshaping-eu... [6] - https://www.osw.waw.pl/en/publikacje/osw-commentary/2025-01-20/three-years-war-ukraine-chinese-russian-alliance-passes-test https://www.osw.waw.pl/en/publikacje/osw-commentary/2025-01-... [7] - https://fddi.fudan.edu.cn/_t2515/57/f8/c21257a743416/page.htm https://fddi.fudan.edu.cn/_t2515/57/f8/c21257a743416/page.ht... [8] - https://www.defense.gouv.fr/desinformation/nos-analyses-froid/decryptage-desinformation-au-service-competition-industrielle https://www.defense.gouv.fr/desinformation/nos-analyses-froi...

f6v 4mo ago
> Chinese overproduction a critical topic of discussion for EU-China relations Ah of course, I do want the state regulating what I can and cannot buy when it comes to junk. Only approved goods should be allowed.

exabrial 4mo ago

I mean that was the whole point of Temu... buy shit dirt cheap because over-regulation harms the consumer.

acd 4mo ago

Big corp penny slap on the fingers. I dont this amount will change behaviour or incentive to make larger profit.

amelius 4mo ago
A real slap on the wrist of the CEO by a wronged customer would leave a more lasting impression.
alephnerd 4mo ago
It sets precedent, and has already led to a (by Chinese foreign policy standards) fairly vicious response [0][1][2]. This is also part of the EU's larger tariffs against China [3]. [0] - https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202605/1361926.shtml https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202605/1361926.shtml [1] - https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202605/1362200.shtml https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202605/1362200.shtml [2] - https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202605/1362161.shtml https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202605/1362161.shtml [3] - https://www.ft.com/content/e28fe696-ac30-4543-a105-febc82789f87?syn-25a6b1a6=1 https://www.ft.com/content/e28fe696-ac30-4543-a105-febc82789...
- B1FF_PSUVM 4mo ago
  > [0] Ahah, China going Adam Smith on the EU. Peacefully, so far. Let's hope they don't go "opium war" on free trade.
  - alephnerd 4mo ago
    That's already happening with synthetic drugs [0] and the Ukraine War [1]. [0] - https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/01/30/china-traffics-chemicals-to-europes-15bn-drugs-labs/ https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/01/30/china-traf... [1] - https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/russians-covertly-trained-by-china-return-fight-ukraine-sources-say-2026-05-19/ https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/russians-...
  - throw-the-towel 4mo ago
    > while French President Emmanuel Macron even suggested following US-style measures akin to the "Section 301" tariffs. > A major source of this latest wave of the so-called "China shock" narrative is the claim that the EU's trade deficit with China reached 360 billion euros in 2025. These are the same people whose collective knickers are getting in a twist over Trump, mind you.

econ 4mo ago

This is something like an individual being fined $200? Seems fine

ChrisArchitect 4mo ago

[dupe] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48307237 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48307237

theragra 4mo ago

Temu also should be fined for predatory marketing. Not sure if laws exist, but dark patterns are everywhere. I try to a avoid Temu, but they have some good traits, too, like quick and convinient shipping.

hulitu 4mo ago
> Not sure if laws exist, but dark patterns are everywhere. I bet you never heard of Microsoft or Google.
- theragra 3mo ago
  I dunno, Temu is worse. They use "lootboxes", that's something very hard to imagine in MS or Google products.

dsign 4mo ago

Say what you may of Temu, and I do think more vetting of certain goods is a good idea, but they fill a very real need. In the part of Europe where I live, the choice is only between intermediaries for the same products coming from China. The local intermediaries sell a very limited picking at staggering margins. And when it comes to certain things, like electronic components, the choice is between importing (old) American stock with a German company as the intermediary, and that's $$$$ and many weeks of shipping, or using Temu or Aliexpress. There's something unpleasantly snobbish with the way business is done here, a spirit of "if you have to ask the price, our business is not for you". For example, in Instagram, "Local offerings" pop up all the time in the feed. The ones which are truly local end up in a "call us to know more" button, no pricing info disclosed. The ones that show actual prices tend to be shell companies with no employees, no doubt a thin wrapper around an importer from Asia.

lnxg33k1 4mo ago
[flagged]
whimsicalism 4mo ago
yes, i'm very in favor of the shift towards direct-to-consumer among chinese retailers, but that might be because i'm not actually all that sympathetic to small business
- ryandrake 4mo ago
  I recently bought some custom-built pool lighting directly from the manufacturer in Ningbo, and I have to say, the sales, delivery, and customer support I received was top notch. Their representatives were fluent in English and competent, the product quality was excellent (yes, I carefully inspected it upon receipt because it's going into water), and the entire process from measurement to delivery was fast and smooth. And, of course, the price was right.
  - BrtByte 4mo ago
    In a way it makes the Temu problem more frustrating

petarvasilev 4mo ago

[dead]

happyPersonR 4mo ago

Does Amazon or eBay get the same fine? Haha it’s the same people on all of these sites …. Just some dropshipping ?

input_sh 4mo ago
Amazon is also under investigation under DSA, eBay is not big enough (in the EU) to matter under this law.
zipy124 4mo ago
I've been done by illegal electronics on Amazon too many times. They don't seem to care at all. You can still buy chargers on them that are in an advisory red list on gov UK....
- nerdyadventurer 4mo ago
  I'm not against consumer protection but these moves seem political, Europe hate China just like Russia, they want to counter China economically. Otherwise why fine out of the blue when this had been going for years. And what about western countries violate those laws, lobbied or deliberately turning a blind eye.

Jerry2 4mo ago

The EU is only good at imposing massive fines and they like to regulate technologies they have not created and don't even host them. TEMO will more than likely just pass the cost of this onto EU consumers.

OKRainbowKid 4mo ago
As an EU consumer, I appreciate laws and regulations that ban selling cheap junk that might burn my house down or poison my baby. I take it you don't?
- w4zz 4mo ago
  In my limited experience not all countries do think like this.
  - tialaramex 4mo ago
    It's a cultural thing yeah. Americans genuinely do on the whole think that their approach is better. The good news I guess is that if you're an American and you think "Well I don't" you can (at least for now†) just leave. † If you lived in the German Democratic Republic (aka "East Germany") in 1950 you could literally just walk to West Germany, by 1961 all other borders are closed and fenced and in Berlin the Wall is up and people who try to escape are being executed routinely. This didn't happen instantly over night, but it took about a decade to go from routine to "Vast majority of people who attempt it are killed".
    - toast0 4mo ago
      I mean, in America we have similar regulations. Toys aren't allowed to burn down houses or poison babies. You have to get dietary supplements if you want to poison babies. Enforcement on individually shipped imports is hard regardless of where you are. Traditionally enforcement is through spot checks of bulk imports, and leaning hard on the importer who has a clear nexus.
joe463369 4mo ago

0cf8612b2e1e 4mo ago

… which found that a high percentage of chargers purchased through Temu failed basic electrical safety tests. It also found that a high proportion of baby toys posed safety risks, containing chemicals above legal limits or featuring small detachable parts that presented suffocation hazards… Boring. I can probably find the exact same on Amazon. From the headline, I was hoping the list of illegal products was going to be something like enriched plutonium, RPGs, Lawn Darts, etc

mfld 4mo ago
Maybe for marketplace articles shipped from outside the EU. It's not legal, so Amazon will surely have a close look (for directly sold items), as well as any company shipping from within the EU.
NoGravitas 4mo ago
The US is going to be selling weapons-grade plutonium to startups, so you may get your chance before long. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/26/climate/plutonium-nuclear-weapons-fuel.html https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/26/climate/plutonium-nuclear...

maxglute 4mo ago

How many dead babies or battery fires post Temu, seems like good opportunity to conduct a before/after study on cost:ratio of EU regulations.

j0ba 4mo ago

EU is a fine organization

f6v 4mo ago
Feels like the EU is always going to find something to fine you over. Think of it as a tax. The purpose is compensating for the lack of notable domestic tech giants.
- Ylpertnodi 4mo ago
  And stopping Temu from passing on junk, as in this case.
  - woadwarrior01 4mo ago
    Amazon passes on the same junk, albeit at 2-5x the price.
  - jeppester 4mo ago
    That's the thing with these fines. 19/20 times they make a lot of sense. But even so, there will be people saying "but why not this other org" to which the answer is "Yes! Hand out more fines", not "it's unfair, so just let everyone break the law".

pickleballcourt 4mo ago

I’m curious if its actually difficult or trivial for Temu to enforce

ninth_ant 4mo ago
It’s not simply difficult, it’s an existential threat to their current business model. Unless I’m missing something obvious, enforcing regulatory compliance from the army of hustlers that is their vendor market would be expensive or impossible.

nickff 4mo ago

The EU's approach to imports from PRoC is the regulatory equivalent of trying to 'test your way to quality' (which Deming showed to be nearly impossible). Attempts to use regulatory fines and prosecutions to ensure compliance from PRoC products is a whack-a-mole exercise which will fail.

miohtama 4mo ago
Even if it fails maybe you can get some political scores in the process to get elected again.
ahartmetz 4mo ago
By the same logic, attempts to use policing to ensure lawfulness are a whack-a-mole exercise which will fail. So what else are you going to do? Paperwork up front for every single product?
- RobotToaster 4mo ago
  > By the same logic, attempts to use policing to ensure lawfulness are a whack-a-mole exercise which will fail. That's basically how drugs won the war on drugs, yes.
  - ahartmetz 4mo ago
    But you can't legalize all crime. Drugs are special because they are (sort of) victimless.
    - cubefox 4mo ago
      Drugs are absolutely not victimless, except perhaps for caffeine.
      - bit-anarchist 4mo ago
        But they are.

pacman1337 4mo ago

The past making quality clothing was difficult, cutting it right, sourcing the right patterns designs materials, stitching it took care etc. In our world making quality clothing should be easy with all the technology but what we see in bad quality that you wash a few times and it is trash. It is uglier designs than in the past etc. It makes no sense. It is like a conspiracy where people don't want to sell quality clothes at a fair price. Like all companies got together and decided we will sell crap clothes at cheap prices and good clothes at extortion prices. There is zero correlation with actual costs.

rahimnathwani 4mo ago
Just go to Uniqlo.

BrtByte 4mo ago

The fine seems less interesting than the compliance deadline

Eric_Bulai 4mo ago

This news has been circulating on the internet for a long time and it is indeed real, but the question is, if people want to buy something, they will look for alternatives.

BrtByte 4mo ago
People will definitely look for alternatives, but that doesn't make regulation pointless
- PowerElectronix 4mo ago
  It helps funding the EU and little else.
  - Eric_Bulai 4mo ago
    Regulation slows down the problem, but demand creates the solution so it doesn't really matter.
    - dangus 4mo ago
      This is a nuance-free take. There’s zero demand for products that are hiding safety issues that nobody was seeking out (e.g., toys with lead paint, batteries that explode) Demand for illegal things isn’t in a vacuum. It’s hard to enact prohibition on alcohol or cannabis (extremely easy to produce) versus prohibiting something more complicated to make, difficult to smuggle, or less desirable to buy. If my government bans Crocs am I going to go through the engineering effort to make them myself? Plus, if I go outside the cops will see my illegal Crocs very quickly. I have plenty of alternatives to Crocs and most of them are better. Most likely, I won’t even think about the ban. We have a good example with incandescent light bulbs. I don’t know anyone who has attempted to violate the ban on home incandescent light bulbs. The whole “everything should be legal anyway because there will always be a black market” philosophy is not a universal truth and we need to stop assuming that it makes sense.
      - 4mo ago

londons_explore 4mo ago

Did they actually sell $200M of illegal products, or is this a number plucked from thin air?

deleted 4mo ago
[deleted]
ericmay 4mo ago
Why would they need to sell €200 of illegal products to be fined that same amount?

grizzo 4mo ago

I once bought one of those cheap portable consoles from them (or Aliexpress) and after two month I was given a full refund as the welding of the motherboard contained too much lead. This news really doesn't surprise me that much.

RobotToaster 4mo ago
Leaded solder doesn't really pose a health issue to the consumer.
- aDyslecticCrow 4mo ago
  Neither does; Mercury lamps, Asbestos insulation, Freon refrigerant. It poses issues when disposed off, and is banned for a reason.

Zenst 4mo ago

[flagged]

AllegedAlec 4mo ago

So many China shills running interference and whataboutism...

Scroll_Swe 4mo ago

Good, keep it up. China is literally poisoning us.

nnm 4mo ago

[flagged]

shell0x 4mo ago

Taobao and Temu are great. The quality is not always amazing, but the prices are low and many sellers even offer customisation. In Australia, the product selection is often limited, and a lot of local stores are just reselling Chinese-made products with huge markups anyway. At that point, you may as well order directly from China and save money. It also saves 10% GST.

markdown 4mo ago
> It also saves 10% GST. For now. Your local companies hate the competition, and will be lobbying hard to remove de minimis exemptions on imports.
- _jackdk_ 4mo ago
  Didn't this go through a few years ago? https://www.ato.gov.au/businesses-and-organisations/international-tax-for-business/gst-for-non-resident-businesses/gst-on-low-value-imported-goods https://www.ato.gov.au/businesses-and-organisations/internat... > If you are a non-resident business and you sell goods into Australia with a customs value of A$1,000 or less, GST applies and you will have to collect this from your customer and send the GST to us.
  - deleted 4mo ago
    [deleted]
askvictor 4mo ago
Temu charges GST (I presume taobao as well)
mikrotikker 4mo ago
Are we still not allowed to call out shills here? Is that still a rule?

varispeed 4mo ago

Why are they not fining Amazon? Plenty of times bought something that obviously was dangerous when inspected more closely and if you posted a bad review, you got threats (e.g. seller would say I know your address, take down the review or else). Report to Amazon would achieve nothing. But I guess if Temu was running government infrastructure they would be off the hook too.

derelicta 4mo ago

I've learnt from a coworker that actually, all the stuff we order from AliExpress is crap they don't sell in their own country. A bit like the Swiss selling their shitty cheese abroad whilst they keep the good stuff for themselves.

protocolture 4mo ago

Temu and Aliexpress do seem to have this covered to an extent. I have noticed significant geoblocking from both companies, mostly in searches and advertisements. I know for instance that Aliexpress has a ton of non compliant (for Australia) toy guns, they send me target ads and everything. But if I click through, they no longer exist, and search results net me nothing. Temus comments about this being for their 2024 store are probably accurate. I honestly wish they were more dodgy tbh.

rldjbpin 4mo ago

we see these headlines all the time, sometimes in a higher oder of magnitude, but are these fines ever actually settled?

Levi_Bennett12 4mo ago

Interesting - I've been testing a few free tier tools lately. How does SerpSpur's backlink freshness compare to something like Ubersuggest or the free version of Ahrefs?

liam_buildalink 4mo ago
[flagged]

onesingleblast 4mo ago

Is it really any worse than AliExpress?