The European Commission has started a probe on the sale of illegal products on SHEIN, a Singapore headquartered company but with products mostly from China. The European Commission is working with the consumer protection regulators in four Member States to investigate on SHEIN’s 

Similar actions have been taken on Apple and Amazon, with proceedings already taken against Temu and Aliexpress last year. 

The total number of small-value e-commerce packages imported into the EU amounted to 4.6 billion in 2024, almost two times as many than in 2023, with 91% of them coming from China. 

The commission is using the Consumer Protection Cooperation Network, which aims to facilitate cooperation between the EU and the national authorities in member states which are responsible for the enforcement of consumer protection rules. The applicable consumer rules cover various areas such as unfair commercial practices, e-commerce, geo-blocking, package holidays, online selling, and passenger rights. If errant trade practices from businesses are discovered, the Commission can alert national authorities and coordinate their action to tackle practices, and negotiation with the businesses concerned can be done directly at EU level.

The EU has been working on a series of consumer protection regulations aimed at e-commerce platforms, many of which operate out of Asia. In December, as reported by ASEANcham-EU, the revised EU General Safety Product Regulation came into force, making use of the precautionary principle on all stakeholders for product safety with specific product safety obligations and additional product traceability requirements for both economic operators and providers of online marketplaces. 

In the coming week, a new strategy on customs reform aimed at cracking down on e-commerce platforms being used to ship unsafe products from China and other non-EU countries will be unveiled. The proposal includes the setting up of a EU customs authority (EUCA) allowing officials to better control and inspect packages, obliging online platforms to provide data before goods arrive in the EU, and new waste rules obliging the seller to contribute to the cost of disposal of unwanted products, including clothes. The EU is also considering a handling fee per package.  

ASEANcham-EU will continue to monitor and report on further developments that could potentially affect ASEAN sellers and e-commerce marketplaces.