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The EU is accusing Chinese online marketplace AliExpress of breaching the bloc’s digital rules, as Brussels continues its efforts to utilise landmark legislation to police internet businesses.
In preliminary findings issued on Wednesday, regulators said they were worried about the lack of effective measures from AliExpress to prevent the dissemination of illegal content such as counterfeit goods or unsafe products.
Brussels also accused the company of failing to appropriately enforce its penalty policy concerning traders that repeatedly post illegal content.
The decision comes as the bloc is cracking down on Chinese online retailers, especially when it comes to low-cost imports. More than nine out of 10 packages imported to the EU come from China.
Brussels has already suggested a €2 fee on small packages entering the EU. Brussels has also launched an investigation into Shein, the Asian ecommerce platform that relies on a Chinese supply chain, amid concerns that the company is violating European consumer protection rules.
The Digital Services Act forces large online platforms to police their platforms more aggressively, with additional obligations to a number of big tech groups including Instagram, Google and TikTok.
Under the landmark legislation, companies that fail to curb illegal content and disinformation face penalties of up to 6 per cent of their annual global turnover.
Another part of the investigation in AliExpress, which was launched last year, was closed by the European Commission as the platform came forward with certain commitments, for example on the transparency of advertising systems, data access for researchers and a searchable and reliable repository for advertisements.
Those commitments were welcomed by the EU’s tech chief Henna Virkkunen. “We have been able to take concrete steps to ensure a high level of safety for EU citizens while maintaining a level playing field for platforms and traders in the EU market,” she said.
