The European Union has imposed a 550-million-euro ($630 million) fine on online retailer AliExpress for allowing the sale of illegal products, including unsafe toys and cosmetics. The EU said the penalty was for not doing enough to stop the sale of counterfeit products and that when the platform detected illegal goods were on sale, many remained online for several weeks.
According to the report, the EU found that some goods sold on the platform did not meet the bloc’s strict environmental and safety standards during its investigation into AliExpress launched in March 2024. EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen said in a statement, “Risks must be identified and addressed systematically to ensure consumers can safely shop online. Today, we are holding AliExpress to this standard and request it to take action.”
Europe’s dealings with Beijing have been increasingly defined by a huge trade imbalance and tension over what Brussels says is overproduction by Chinese manufacturers benefitting from large industrial subsidies. EU leaders such as Ursula von der Leyen warned early this month that the bloc is weighing action to address its trade imbalances with Beijing.
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The EU said Europe is being flooded with cheap Chinese goods, ranging from electric vehicles to a vast array of products, often at cheap prices that create unfair competition with local manufacturers. AliExpress complained in a statement that the fine was “disproportionate” and “does not adequately reflect our established framework and the significant, proactive enhancements we have made”.
The company added it was “considering all available options”. The EU said the fine’s amount took into consideration the nature of the violations, the impact on Europeans, and the duration of the infringements. AliExpress is the biggest Chinese e-commerce platform in the EU with 193 million users.
The EU said AliExpress had “overestimated the effectiveness of its system in detecting and removing illegal products”. Millions of products would also reappear, the EU official said. And many illegal products would be recommended to users before they were removed. Those selling illegal goods were still able to remain active on AliExpress.
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The platform also did not “adequately” stop the sale of counterfeit products because its mandatory “brand authorisation” system “proved ineffective and understaffed. Therefore, traders easily bypassed this”, the EU found. The Digital Services Act is part of a strengthened legal weaponry to rein in what the EU views as Big Tech’s excesses, and fines can go as high as six percent of a company’s total worldwide annual turnover.
AliExpress has to now pay the fine. Virkkunen told reporters AliExpress was “cooperating very actively” with the European Commission, the EU’s digital watchdog.
