Temu and Shein Face EU Digital Services Act Reckoning Over Product Safety

Chinese e-commerce giants face escalating EU regulatory scrutiny over product safety, counterfeit goods, and DSA compliance as Brussels tests its market access leverage.

Temu and Shein vs. Europe: The Product Safety Battle That Could Rewrite Chinese E-Commerce

Chinese e-commerce platforms Temu and Shein, which have captured enormous European market share through an aggressive combination of ultra-low prices and sophisticated social media marketing, are facing escalating EU regulatory scrutiny over product safety standards, counterfeit and intellectual property violations, and compliance with the Digital Services Act obligations that apply to very large online platforms. The regulatory pressure, building throughout 2025 and intensifying in early 2026, represents the most serious threat these platforms have faced in the European market since their explosive growth began.

The product safety dimension is particularly acute. European consumer testing organisations have documented hundreds of products sold on Temu and Shein that fail to meet EU safety standards — clothing with excessive chemical content, electronics without required CE marking, toys that present choking hazards, and personal care products containing prohibited substances. The scale of these violations, far exceeding what individual national market surveillance authorities can address through their existing enforcement tools, has pushed the Commission toward developing new mechanisms for holding marketplace platforms responsible for the safety of products sold through their infrastructure.

The Digital Services Act obligations — which require very large online platforms to conduct systematic risk assessments of their systems, take down illegal content promptly, provide transparency on their algorithms, and give researchers access to platform data — have been formally extended to Temu and Shein following their classification as very large platforms based on monthly active user thresholds. Both companies are engaged in active dialogue with EU regulators about their compliance approaches, but internal EU assessments suggest that the companies' systems for detecting and removing illegal product listings fall significantly short of DSA requirements.