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

bbc.co.uk

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

#261

Post by lozenge »

retired wrote: post #245
tobz1000 wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least in the UK, the main high-street retailers will only stock goods from reputable brands with a (relatively) decent track record and safety standards. I don't believe there is any intersection between products sold on Temu and e.g. Argos, John Lewis.

Not in The Netherlands. Plenty of stores that stock chargers identical to the ones on AliExpress and Temu. Action, Big Bazar, SoLow. Edit: Reply to lozenge as I am still rate-limited by HN. Some of them get recalled, the vast majority of them are still being sold and could burn your house down.

At least they get recalled. I don't think any Temu products are getting recalled.

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

#262

Post by AnthonyMouse »

greggsy wrote: post #224
DANmode wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, let them suck on the poison Happy Meal toy instead. The line should be drawn by parents. The paternalism really has gone too far, and people are (incorrectly and dangerously) expecting to be protected now.

With that thinking, people would still be buying unlabelled arsenic wallpaper. Consumer standards are a net benefit to society. > and people are (incorrectly and dangerously) expecting to be protected now. The general public hasn’t the faintest idea how to differentiate between a safe product and an unsafe one, and they shouldn’t have to

> The general public hasn’t the faintest idea how to differentiate between a safe product and an unsafe one, and they shouldn’t have to

The problem being that a marketplace platform with millions of small sellers has no reasonable way to do this either.

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

#263

Post by tancop »

alephnerd wrote: post #153
f6v wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

European QoL is predicated on protecting European industry. Why should European workers lose their jobs because you want to buy something cheaper? If you don't build nor buy European, you become a vassal of either the US or China.

europe can copy a lot of what made china a superpower (not the weak labor rights obviously). subsidize everything and build up state owned factories. that will end unemployment and make eu products cheaper. no need to be all protectionist

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

#264

Post by aDyslecticCrow »

nickff wrote: post #149

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.

Passing the CE certification is annoying, but hardly a significant cost compared to design of the product. Notably, the law forces companies to put their ass on the line if things to wrong, by registering their name to the product they produce.

We also have laws making the store selling the thing that burnt down your house liable for what they sold, which make them think twice about selling a random off-brand fire-starter with unknown manufacturer. This worked great until Temu, Amazon, and Alibaba entered the market claiming to be "marketplaces" connecting "importers to suppliers" while clearly behaving like a store.

The core issue is that, if the producer cannot be sued, the seller cannot be sued, then there is no reason to follow any safety what-so-ever. So fine the distributor until they put some quality control or standards on the producers they give market to, may solve the issue.

The US has this issue as well, though more focus on individuals suing for each case rather than broad-spectrum compliance regulation. The outcome is the same; with nobody to sue, there is no reason to make things safe for human use.

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

#265

Post by pessimizer »

gambiting wrote: post #186
notaustinpowers wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

€200M accounts for roughly 1.6% of their €12.3B net profit in 2025. The average EU salary is €39,808. It's equivalent to a €636 fine. Though this is based on income, not net profit so it's actually more impactful to the average person than to Temu.

These sort of calculations are always missing a simple fact that no company on earth, not even Apple or Google shrugs off a 200M fine, no matter how little it is of their entire operating budget. It's the kind of money that gets people fired, even if it made no difference to the bottom line.

> It's the kind of money that gets people fired

1. It's not, and

2. Who cares if somebody gets fired for PR purposes? Especially with a severance that will make sure that their great-grandchildren will never have to work and your great-grandchildren will be paying them rent?

Everybody doing tens of billions of $ of business shrugs off a $200M fine. They might even get a bonus and a plaque for coming up with a scam that lasted so long before it blew up.

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

#266

Post by shell0x »

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.

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

#267

Post by ahartmetz »

RobotToaster wrote: post #244
ahartmetz wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

> 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.

But you can't legalize all crime. Drugs are special because they are (sort of) victimless.

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

#268

Post by lozenge »

QuantumNomad_ wrote: post #97
leni536 wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is no such thing as "Chinese Export". https://cemarkingassociation.co.uk/latest-news/ce-marking-an...

There is such a thing. The Chinese Export one was specifically created to intentionally be confusable with the real CE marking (Conformité Européenne). And it works exactly as intended. People see “CE” and think it’s the real CE one but it’s the intentionally confusable one. https://www.kimuagroup.com/news/differences-between-ce-and-c... https://starfishmedical.com/resource/conformite-europeenne-m...

It really isn't. There is no official "Chinese Export" mark. And it's legal to use the real CE mark just to indicate that you (the manufacturer) believe the product complies with European regulations. Some manufacturers might not know or care what it means and just put it on anyway. And some manufacturers might put a version with the incorrect dimensions on their product. It still doesn't mean "Chinese Export".

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

#269

Post by aDyslecticCrow »

RobotToaster wrote: post #239
grizzo wrote: post #212

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.

Leaded solder doesn't really pose a health issue to the consumer.

Neither does; Mercury lamps, Asbestos insulation, Freon refrigerant. It poses issues when disposed off, and is banned for a reason.

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

#270

Post by ascorbic »

DANmode wrote: post #206
BrtByte wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But I still think chargers and children's toys are exactly where the line should be drawn

No, let them suck on the poison Happy Meal toy instead. The line should be drawn by parents. The paternalism really has gone too far, and people are (incorrectly and dangerously) expecting to be protected now.

Are parents supposed to perform safety and toxicity testing on all products they buy?
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