Filenews 19 May 2024
A complaint against Chinese platform Temu has been filed by 17 European consumer associations – members of the European Consumer Federation (BEUC) – alleging that the company does not comply with European consumer safety legislation.
The complaints, as announced by BEUC, were made to the competent national supervisory authorities, against the fast-growing Chinese online marketplace in Europe Temu.
These organizations include the Greek organization Consumers Association Quality of Life (EKPOIZO), which in a statement argues that the platform does not protect consumers in terms of EU safety rules. BEUC also forwarded a complaint to the European Commission.
It is crucial that products sold in offline or online markets, whether they are European, American or Chinese, are safe and comply with European legislation when addressing European consumers. In particular, Temu, which has over 75 million monthly users in the EU, often fails to inform consumers about the trader selling its products through this platform, thus failing to respect EU product safety standards rules. Finally, the online marketplace is rife with manipulative techniques, such as dark patterns, to direct consumers to spend more than they would initially like and unfairly and misleadingly complicates the process of deleting their account.
Consumer Associations also call on the competent national supervisory authorities to take action and immediately investigate the non-compliance with European legislation on online content and digital services by the online platform TEMU, in order to ensure consumer rights based on a safer and more open digital space, providing protection of their fundamental rights and access to quality digital services.
