The European Commission has announced that Temu, an ecommerce platform, has breached the Digital Services Act (DSA) for not appropriately assessing the risks of illegal products available on its websites.
The preliminary findings follow the Commission’s investigation from October 2024 into Temu under the DSA, a legislation which focuses on countering illegal content and products online. The regulator has discovered that there is a high risk that EU consumers can find illegal products on the platform, including baby toys and small electronics.
According to the EU Commission’s statement, released on 28 July 2025, Temu’s risk assessment from October 2024 was inaccurate and relied on general industry information rather than on certain details about its own marketplace. The regulator mentioned that this may have led to ineffective mitigation measures against the dissemination of illegal products. Additionally, in its preliminary view, the EU Commission underlined that the ecommerce platform is far from assessing risks for its users at the standards imposed by the DSA. The regulator emphasised that the EU’s laws, including the DSA, represent the core for a better protection online and a safer digital Single Market for Europeans.
Currently, Temu can respond in writing to the EU Commission’s findings. If a breach is discovered, the regulator can enforce a fine of up to 6% of the company’s global annual turnover. As detailed by Euronews, a Temu representative mentioned their company’s commitment to continue to cooperate fully with the EU Commission.
At the time of writing, the investigation was still ongoing regarding Temu’s other suspected breaches of the DSA, including the efficacy of its mitigation instruments, the leverage of addictive design features, as well as the transparency of its recommendation systems and its access to data for research.
Stricter controls for Chinese retailers in the EU
In addition to launching probes into the operations of Chinese retailers, at the beginning of the year, the EU Commission also announced its plans to tighten customs controls on parcels sent from China by online retailers such as Shein and Temu. The move came during a period of scaled demand for Chinese products in the EU market, with regulators seeking to eliminate dangerous products from entering the region. The agency advised EU lawmakers to phase out the exemption on customs duties that was acceptable for parcels under EUR 150, which enabled foreign suppliers to sell goods in the EU without facing the tax.
