High risk for EU consumers of finding illegal products on Temu, EC reports
The commission said on Monday that there was a 'high risk' of consumers in the EU encountering illegal products on the e-commerce giant's platform.
Specifically, analysis of a mystery shopping exercise conducted by the commission found that consumers shopping on Temu were very likely to find non-compliant products, including baby toys and small electronics.
The statement is part of an investigation into the e-commerce giant under the commission's Digital Services Act (DSA), a new piece of legislation governing online content in the European Union.
It forces companies that run online platforms such as e-commerce websites to assess how likely consumers are to be exposed to dangerous or illegal products, and work to lessen the risk.
The commission said according to its analysis, a risk assessment carried out by Temu, which is owned by PDD Holdings, in October 2024 was 'inaccurate' and 'relying on general industry information rather than on specific details about its own marketplace'.
Henna Virkkunen, executive vice-president for 'tech sovereignty, security and democracy', said: 'We shop online because we trust that products sold in our Single Market are safe and comply with our rules.
'In our preliminary view, Temu is far from assessing risks for its users at the standards required by the Digital Services Act.
'Consumers' safety online is not negotiable in the EU – our laws, including the Digital Services Act, are the foundation for a better protection online and a safer and fairer digital Single Market for all Europeans.'
The company could face a fine of up to 6% of its annual worldwide turnover if the commission ultimately decides its risk assessment does not meet the companies' obligations under the DSA.
The commission said officials would also continue investigating the company over other suspected breaches of the DSA such as using addictive design features and a lack of transparency on its algorithms.
The EU is trying to counter what it sees as a glut of cheap and potentially unsafe products from China flooding the single market.
Officials also sent a formal warning to Shein in May, saying the company's sales tactics fell foul of EU consumer protection law.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Sun
40 minutes ago
- The Sun
National Lottery to shut down TONIGHT with just hours left for players to buy tickets or claim prizes
THE NATIONAL lottery is shutting down tonight, for a huge technology update. Players have until just hours left to buy tickets, before the service shuts down for over 24 hours. 1 During the shutdown, which is taking place to facilitate the largest upgrade in the game's 31-year history, players will also not be able to check numbers. All draw game sales and prizes will be paused across the entire country from 11pm tonight to "late on Monday morning". During this period, operator Allwyn will transfer and upgrade the National Lottery's gaming and retail systems to new platforms. The update will take place after Saturday's Lotto and Thunderball draws, meaning that some winners will not be able to claim prizes until Monday. Online accounts, the National Lottery website and app will also be impacted until Monday. The news system is set to be up and running before the Set For Life draw on Monday night. Friday's Euromillions draw, which currently sits at £145 million, will not be impacted. Lotto players, should buy tickets. check their results and claim prizes before 11pm tonight, to avoid missing out. You will still be able to buy scratchcards during this period, and can see the latest draws and view the full results for the Saturday draws on the National Lottery's YouTube channel. However, Allwyn warned that a "small proportion" of in-store terminals could see delays if certain upgrade processes are interrupted. I became a millionaire overnight after winning huge National Lottery prize but I celebrated with modest Scottish treat Allwyn revealed that the technology needs to be updated, as it dates back to 2009, "before iPads, Uber and Instagram". The Czech-based group, who took over the 10-year licence to run the lottery from Camelot in February last year said the systems need to be modernised. to deliver on "ambitious" plans for a National Lottery "fit for the future". Allwyn chief executive Andria Vidler said: "This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to deliver The National Lottery that the UK deserves. How to increase your chances of winning the lottery The odds of picking a winning lottery ticket are pretty slim but there are some ways to improve your chances . Games with small jackpots tend to have better odds, so it's worth taking notice of the difference. For example, EuroMillions is harder to win than UK Lotto. Some lotteries may have bonus numbers or other features which could improve someone's chance of winning. Looking at these additional elements and understanding them can help someone make a more informed decision when choosing their numbers. Each lottery draw is random and balls have the same chance of being drawn. However, there are some balls that statistically have appeared more often than others which could make them seem a better bet. For example, previous research has showed that number 38 was most common, 23 was second most drawn, followed by 31, 11, 45 and 25. There is another easy way of getting more tickets at the same cost and that is by joining a syndicate. Of course, you share the winnings, but the chances of matching the numbers drawn are vastly improved. "We're making unprecedented and much-needed changes, which will move us closer to achieving our vision for The National Lottery. "These major upgrades will mean short-term disruption for players and our retail partners." "But they will allow us to deliver on our promise to bring new, exciting games, a better player experience and our commitment to double returns to Good Causes from £30 million to £60 million every week by the end of the 10-year licence." The switchover has been hampered by delays after Allwyn took over the licence, which has held back the launch of new draw-based games. It was unable to switch to a new technology provider after agreeing to extend the contract for the existing supplier, International Games Technology (IGT). IGT had challenged the Gambling Commission's decision to award Allwyn the 10-year licence in court, but later dropped the legal action.
Times
an hour ago
- Times
British Airways owner's profits soar after strong customer demand
British Airways owner IAG has beaten profit expectations amid persistently strong passenger demand and lower fuel costs, despite taking a big hit from Heathrow's one-day closure in March. The airline group, which also owns Vueling, Iberia and Aer Lingus, reported a more than third increase in second-quarter operating profit to €1.7 billion in the three months ended June 30, well ahead of City forecasts of €1.4 billion. Total revenue increased 6.8 per cent to €8.8 billion, driven by a 4.9 per cent rise in passenger revenue to €7.8 billion year-on-year. A bumper performance came despite the group booking a €50 million hit from the closure of Heathrow after the North Hyde substation fire in March. 'We continue to benefit from the trend of a structural shift in consumer spending towards travel,' Luis Gallego, chief executive, said on Friday. Gallego said the results gave him confidence that the FTSE 100 group would be able to create value for 'shareholders through our sustainable dividend and share buyback'. IAG brought back dividends for the first time since the pandemic last year amid a long-running boom in travel demand. It will provide an update for investors on payouts in November. Shares in the group have risen more than 130 per cent over the past 12 months. Before the results, analysts had been concerned about a number of geopolitical and macroeconomic headwinds, including jet fuel prices in the wake of Israel's conflict with Iran and the impact of President Trump's tariffs on consumer spending. IAG said the group's airlines had 'all benefited' from lower fuel prices. Fuel costs this year were down €291 million, or 7.6 per cent year-on-year, driven by lower prices and only partially offset by increased flying volumes. IAG said on Friday it had seen strong demand across its core markets in Europe, Latin America and the North Atlantic. It did, however, note some 'softness' in US economy bookings, a warning that sent shares down by about 1.4 per cent amid investor concern over the impact of Trump's trade policy and a more hostile US border on transatlantic travel. IAG said it had partially mitigated tempered US economy bookings via strength in its premium cabin offering, as capacity across the North Atlantic grew by 1.1 per cent over the half year. In May the European Travel Commission warned of 'heightened uncertainty' in the transatlantic market. Trips between the UK and US have remained broadly level this year at Heathrow, British Airways' primary hub, at 9.7 million, although there was a slight dip before the summer. Globally, half-year passenger numbers declined slightly, by 0.7 per cent to 57.8 million, although this was against a record year of demand in 2024. The company recently announced a multibillion-pound order for 53 intercontinental aircraft from Boeing and Airbus as the post-pandemic travel boom shows little sign of a tail-off. IAG's interim results were published hours after Heathrow submitted its long-awaited plans for a third runway, as part of a £50 billion investment in expanding its infrastructure. The hub's main airlines, which include British Airways and Virgin Atlantic, are generally supportive of growing the UK's biggest airport. However, they have backed alternative proposals from the billionaire property developer Surinder Arora for a shorter, 2,800m third strip. The airport's plan, which is entirely privately funded, includes a contentious proposal to divert a huge section of the M25 through a tunnel under the new runway.
The Sun
2 hours ago
- The Sun
My clever new fridge saves me hundreds on food AND electricity bills – it even has a cool Ring doorbell perk
Jamie Harris Published: Invalid Date, FRIDGES and freezers are getting in on the smart stuff these days - and they can save you a heap of money in the long-run too. The latest flash model from Samsung has done just that for me, both on food and my electricity bill. 5 5 There are a number of mind-boggling techy features your everyday fridge can't do too. Some are better as party tricks to show off to friends but the majority of them have turned out to be super handy in my house. The exact Samsung model I'm trying is the 621L Bespoke AI Series 9 Side-by-Side Fridge Freezer with AI Home (RS90F64EDTEU). So what's so special about it? Read on in my review below to find out. Samsung Side-by-Side Fridge Freezer review The fridge door has a little display which is your portal to a number of apps. More and more fridge freezers are adopting these sorts of screens - and at one point they were quite big. This one is small and unimposing, allowing you to access things like Spotify and YouTube. It's touch screen and voice powered, so you can essentially do away with having an Alexa or similar digital assistant in your kitchen, especially as the speaker can go pretty loud. The voice assistant is Samsung's own, Bixby, so you'll have to say "Hey Bixby" to summon anything. Samsung reveals genius way to help you save money on food using AI in your FRIDGE For the most part, I just use the touch screen - but there's one special trick that's very much Bixby's. And that's the ability to open the doors for you. At first, I dismissed this as a bit of a gimmick (and was what I referred to as a "party trick" earlier). However, truth be told, there have been times when I've been cooking, I have my hands full with items and suddenly this feature has come in handy. The handles do have sensors on them too that automatically opens the door for you when you simply hover your hand over it - I also thought was just plain lazy initially but I've grown to make that the norm all the time now. A minor annoyance to mention, sometimes when I opened the fridge door my elbow passed the sensor for the freezer door causing it to open too. 5 Saving money on food and more What I really care about is saving money and I'm shamefully aware that my food waste could be a whole lot better. Sometimes you forget, other times you have no idea what to do with that one ingredient. Well, Samsung's SmartThings helps you cut food waste, thereby reducing how much I spend on shopping. You can log items via the app on your phone - which is available on both Android and iOS, not just Samsung's handsets - or tap them in on your fridge screen, along with their use-by dates. While it's very manual, I've resorted to treating it as my shopping list app as opposed to just using my phone's notes feature as I did before. The fridge will also suggest recipes based on the ingredients logged for some easy ideas, crafted by the likes of Jamie Oliver and more. There are other ways the fridge helps you save money too. For instance, it learns your usage patterns so that energy is optimised at the right times. You can even tell it when you're on holiday so it'll go into an energy saving mode. The screen will tell you exactly how much electricity the fridge has used too (last month it was just shy of £10). And as there is a water and ice dispenser, the tech tells you when it's time to change the filter too. Inside When it comes to the primary function, keeping your food chilled and frozen, the inside is perfectly ordinary. In the fridge there are five shelves, as well as two fruit and veg compartments at the bottom. And there are four shelves with two storage draws along the bottom of the freezer. Another thing to note is that it's pretty quiet as a fridge freezer goes, despite being a pretty big appliance. 5 Ring doorbell trick My favourite trick of all, arguably, is the simplest. And that's integration with Ring doorbell. SmartThings is compatible with hundreds of smart home brands, not just devices made by Samsung, which is a rare treat. Once you've linked your Ring doorbell into the SmartThings app it means the fridge screen will alert you when someone is at the front door. You can even answer the call there and then, so another reason not to have another smart hub sitting around your kitchen. Samsung Side-by-Side Fridge Freezer: conclusion At £2,239, the 621L Bespoke AI Series 9 Side-by-Side Fridge Freezer with AI Home doesn't come cheap. But it's worth noting you get five year warranty for parts and labour, as well as 20 year warranty on digital inverter compressor. You can also knock up to £100 off if you recycle an old appliance with Samsung when making the purchase. But for £2,239 you get a premium, slick and feature-packed appliance that should save you hundreds - if not thousands - in the long run with those food and energy management features.
