The European Commission has now accepted the plan with which Temu intends to change that. Anyone selling there should ask where the sharper eye will fall first.
On 26 October 2026, the European Commission accepted the action plan that Temu submitted following the fining decision of 28 May 2026 (Commission press release, in German). In May, the Commission had imposed a fine of EUR 200 million on the marketplace for breaching its risk assessment obligations under the EU Digital Services Act (DSA) (announcement of 28 May 2026). The trigger, incidentally, was not a spectacular individual case but a 2024 risk assessment which, in the Commission’s view, relied on general information about e-commerce rather than on evidence about Temu’s own service.
The fine concerned the analysis, not the goods
Under Article 34 of the Digital Services Act, very large online platforms must identify, analyse and assess the systemic risks of their service, including the dissemination of illegal content, which on a marketplace includes illegal products. Article 35 DSA then requires reasonable mitigation measures. Whoever plays down the risk, of course, needs fewer measures, and that is precisely the connection the Commission held against Temu.
According to the Commission’s findings, Temu seriously underestimated how often consumers in the EU encounter illegal items. Mystery shopping by the Commission showed that a very high percentage of the selected chargers failed basic safety tests and that a high percentage of the baby toys tested posed medium to high risks, for example because chemicals exceeded legal limits or detachable parts created a choking hazard. Nor, the Commission found, had Temu properly assessed how recommender systems and influencer promotion programmes can amplify the spread of illegal goods.
One might have thought a platform knows its own chargers. After the penalty against X (EUR 120 million in December 2025), this was only the second fine under the DSA, and it will not be the last. We recently reported on the EU proceedings against Booking.com (in German) and on when a platform is “very large” according to the General Court (in German).
Five tasks, and one of them concerns sellers directly
The plan now accepted contains five measures. Temu is to carry out a platform-specific risk analysis, demonstrate the effectiveness of its countermeasures with reliable metrics and assess the limits of its own content moderation. Temu is also to examine whether its recommender systems amplify the spread of illegal goods, and what impact intentional manipulation has, expressly including sellers who exploit platform features to spread potentially illegal listings.
There is not much time for the first round. Within four months, Temu is to deliver a preliminary risk assessment covering a six-month period; according to the available reports, that period ends on 30 November 2026. The Commission’s German-language announcement is not entirely clear on this point, but the direction is unmistakable.
What does this mean for sellers on Temu?
A platform that has to prove the effectiveness of its moderation in figures will count what can be counted: removed listings, rejected products, suspended seller accounts. We therefore expect Temu to review more strictly and suspend more quickly over the coming months, and not only where goods are obviously dangerous. In our experience, such a wave also hits sellers whose products are compliant but whose documents cannot be produced fast enough.
Manufacturers and sellers from China who sell directly to EU consumers without an establishment in the EU are particularly exposed. Under the General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR), every product needs a responsible economic operator established in the EU, and mandatory information of this kind is easy to check automatically. From 1 November, the EU handling fee of EUR 2 per item (in German) also applies, which is changing the low-value parcel business in any event.
The idea is not new. As early as 2021, the Higher Regional Court of Frankfurt (Oberlandesgericht Frankfurt am Main) held that eBay must block listings that breach product safety rules and take precautions against further infringements (in German); the case, of all things, concerned swimming discs of Chinese origin without CE marking. The DSA turns this case-by-case liability into a duty of systematic prevention, and the Commission is now counting whether it is met.
Suspended sellers are not without rights. Under Article 17 DSA, the platform must give reasons for every restriction; Article 20 DSA provides an internal complaint-handling system and Article 21 DSA out-of-court dispute settlement. For business users, the rules on reasons and notice periods in the EU Platform-to-Business Regulation (P2B Regulation) also apply. We have described how this works with Amazon in our articles on suspension without reasons and on out-of-court remedies against an account suspension (both in German); the principles can be transferred to Temu.
What sellers should prepare now
- Keep documents ready: store the EU declaration of conformity, test reports, labelling and the responsible economic operator in the EU so that they can be produced within hours.
- Clean up listings: duplicate listings, purchased reviews and other forms of artificial amplification are expressly named in the action plan and are likely to be noticed first.
- Demand reasons if suspended: a blanket reference to “policy violations” will usually not satisfy Article 17 DSA.
- Take deadlines seriously: an internal complaint is quickly filed but should be complete; waiting too long makes the route to interim injunction proceedings harder later on.
Is the matter closed for Temu?
No. The action plan does not replace the fine; it only governs how Temu remedies the shortcomings found. If the platform fails to implement it, the Commission can impose periodic penalty payments under Article 76 DSA. Whether Temu is challenging the fining decision before the General Court of the European Union cannot be inferred from the Commission’s announcements.
Whether Temu will assess its own risks more realistically in future is something the Commission will read from the figures. Sellers will probably notice earlier, namely in their inboxes.
Frequently asked questions about Temu’s action plan
Why was Temu fined EUR 200 million?+
What does the action plan accepted on 26 October 2026 contain?+
May Temu suspend a seller account without giving reasons?+
What should Chinese manufacturers selling to Germany via Temu do?+
Does this also apply to other marketplaces?+
Has your seller account been suspended or a listing removed?
We review the platform’s reasons, file the complaint and, if necessary, enforce reinstatement in court, in English, German or Chinese. You will usually receive an initial assessment within 24 hours.
Further information
- EU-Verfahren gegen Booking.com: Fake-Unterkünfte, Phishing und gekauftes Ranking (in German)
- EuG zu Stripchat: Wann eine Online-Plattform „sehr groß“ ist (in German)
- Darf Amazon ohne Begründung sperren? (in German)
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- Our successes
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