EU fines AliExpress 550 million euros for selling banned products

The European Union on Monday imposed a fine of 550 million euros on the Chinese online commerce platform AliExpress, a subsidiary of the giant Alibaba, for having allowed the sale to European consumers of banned products, including dangerous toys and counterfeit clothing.

The company AliExpress was sanctioned for failing to fulfill its obligations resulting from the European regulation on digital services (Digital Services Act, DSA), “which requires it to diligently evaluate and mitigate the risks linked to the sale on its platform of illegal, dangerous or counterfeit products”, announced Brussels, after an investigation lasting more than two years.

“Disproportionate fine”

This is the highest fine imposed by Brussels under the DSA since the adoption of this powerful law in 2022.

“We disagree with the decision rendered today and with this disproportionate fine, which reflect neither our established principles nor the significant and proactive measures we have implemented,” AliExpress protested in a statement to AFP, without specifying at this stage whether it would appeal.

The European Commission considers in particular that the system for detecting products prohibited for sale put in place by AliExpress did not work at all when its investigation was launched in March 2024.

As a result, “we spotted a large number of counterfeits, but also dangerous toys and cosmetics, which remained on sale for a very long time,” Henna Virkkunen, vice-president of the Commission responsible for Digital, explained to journalists.

In addition, “the penalties applied by AliExpress to sellers found in default were not effective because their stores remained active” long after, she added.

Finally, malicious sellers could very easily circumvent product conformity verification systems, because the dedicated teams were undersized.

The sanction requires the site to submit to the European Commission, within three months, measures aimed at returning to compliance with the DSA, under penalty of periodic fines.

Last year, the European executive accepted measures proposed by the group to amicably resolve several shortcomings identified during its investigations, but warned the group that it risked sanction for these other reasons.

“Since the entry into force of the DSA, AliExpress has been firmly committed to respecting its obligations and continues to do so,” assured the Chinese platform.

“Respect the same rules”

As part of a parallel investigation, the Commission had previously imposed a fine of 200 million euros on Temu, another Chinese platform very popular in Europe, at the end of May, again for allowing the distribution of illegal products, a sanction contested by the company.

And

This new sanction, announced Monday, comes as the EU has increased measures in recent months to protect its market in the face of Chinese competition often considered unfair, in particular via a tax of at least 3 euros on small parcels imported into the EU.

But the Commission denied having targeted AliExpress because of its origin.

“We are carrying out investigations on several online platforms, many of which are based in the United States, and many others in China, but also in Europe”, and “we do not take into account their origin, because everyone who wants to operate in Europe must respect the same rules”, underlined Henna Virkkunen.

Another sales platform of Asian origin, Shein, is also in Brussels’ crosshairs.