Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) wants to tighten controls on Asian shopping portals such as Temu and Shein and abolish the 150 euro duty-free limit. This is the result of an e-commerce action plan drawn up by the Federal Ministry of Economics (BMWK). The plan has been made available to the German Press Agency. “Anyone who shops online must be able to rely on safe and harmless products. Toxic substances do not belong in clothing or toys,” said Habeck. German and European companies should “not be disadvantaged by others circumventing the applicable rules.”
The action plan provides, among other things, for closer cooperation between national and European market surveillance authorities and customs. These are to carry out coordinated controls. The ministry also advocates expanding the authorities’ powers. This means they can take direct action against online trading platforms. The abolition of the customs exemption limit should be “quick and minimally bureaucratic”.
The Asian online platforms mainly use air freight. For orders from non-EU countries, no import fees have to be paid for packages with a value of less than 150 euros.
Sanctions should have a “deterrent effect”
Habeck is calling on the EU Commission to collect data on violations by the portals in a “data hub”. This would enable misconduct to be uncovered and sanctioned. The EU Commission should carry out test purchases to find out whether violations of the law occur systematically and remain unchanged over time. “Sanctions must be set high enough to have a deterrent effect,” it says. The ministry also wants to oblige manufacturers to store information on product safety, environmental protection and health protection in the digital product passport.
The authorities are increasingly finding defects and violations of regulations in third-country products that are sent to the EU, the BMWK explained. This applies in particular to providers such as Temu and Shein. In order to ensure fair competition and punish legal violations, compliance must be consistently enforced.
Shein and Temu are very popular in Germany. However, sales representatives, politicians and consumer advocates criticize product quality, a lack of controls and unfair competition, among other things. The portals have recently repeatedly rejected the allegations.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:240906-930-224778/1
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