How Europe Wants to Stop the Explosive Rise of Shein, Temu and AliExpress

Packages with She in, You AND AliExpress could soon become much more expensive: The European Commission wants to clamp down on unfair competition from cheap Chinese online retailers. Although that won’t be obvious.

Subsidized competition

Currently, the customs exemption applies to e-commerce parcels worth less than €150 shipped from outside the European Union. The European Commission would like to abolish this exemption, writes the Financial Times. Such a measure would primarily hit unstable Chinese online stores: Shein, Temu, AliExpress and Co. currently pose unfair competition to European online stores, partly because the Chinese government subsidizes cheap air freight.

According to the European Commission, 2.3 billion cheap postal parcels reached Europe last year. In April alone, a record 350 million parcels were sent. However, the newspaper says that getting the Commission’s measure through won’t be easy. After all, it would add work to customs services, which are already overloaded. The question is whether European member states will agree to it.

Under Fire

Chinese e-commerce players have been under fire for a while now for a variety of reasons. There are serious questions about the safety, quality and sustainability of the products they sell. Counterfeiting is also a problem.

In May, European consumer organization BEUC and 17 national consumer organizations filed complaints against Temu, accusing it of concealing information and using manipulative techniques. Just last week, e-commerce federation Becom called for tough action against Temu and Shein for allegedly failing to comply with European regulations.

In response, Temu offered the excuse that it was a new player in Europe and therefore needed to learn local rules and customs: “We are fully committed to complying with the laws and regulations of the markets in which we operate.”