2024-09-06 02:40:28
Chinese online platforms such as Temu and Shein are in the sights of the Federal Ministry of Economics. A new action plan calls for stricter controls.
Economics Minister Robert Habeck plans to tighten regulations for Chinese online platforms such as Temu and Shein. An “e-commerce action plan” envisages more intensive monitoring of product safety and consumer protection on these platforms, reports the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”, which says it has the plan.
Products that do not comply with EU standards, such as those relating to health, the environment or product safety, often reach the European market via trading platforms. Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) stressed to the newspaper that consumers must be able to rely on safe and harmless products. Systematic controls and test purchases by customs and authorities should ensure greater safety in the future. “Competition stimulates business,” said Habeck, “but German and European companies must not be disadvantaged by others circumventing the applicable rules.”
The plan envisages holding platforms accountable if manufacturers cannot be identified who are liable for violations. Violations are to be collected in a database across Europe in order to better detect and sanction systematic misconduct. In addition, data protection authorities are to cooperate closely to regulate the comprehensive handling of personal data by the platforms. The Ministry of Economic Affairs proposes that information on product safety or environmental and health protection should be stored in the digital product passport in the future. In order to implement the plan, however, Habeck will have to make representations in Brussels. Many of the regulations are within the competence of the EU.
Particularly controversial is the duty-free limit of 150 euros, which allows many products duty-free entry into the EU. The ministry is committed to a quick and low-bureaucracy abolition of the regulation, which is to take place EU-wide by 2028.