Europe is not for sale: Civil society and authorities join forces to counter unfair competition from Temu and Shein

EESC's EU Consumer Day 2025 pointed to the urgent need to protect EU markets from an avalanche of cheap imports shipped by Temu, Shein and other third-country e-commerce platforms which are threatening to devastate the European economy and society, forcing European businesses to close and draining billions from public budgets.

With as many as 12 million parcels valued at under EUR 150 being shipped every day by third country e-commerce platforms to European consumers ─ and with these numbers continuing to snowball ─ Europe is facing a tsunami of imports that do not comply with EU product-safety rules, labour laws, taxation rules or environmental obligations.

These under-priced imports ─ often marketed with addictive design elements and misleading discounts that encourage excessive consumption ─ pose direct dangers to consumers, create systemic unfair competition, and threaten to wipe out thousands of compliant EU businesses.

Parcels from third-country platforms already double roughly every two years, leaving customs and market-surveillance authorities unable to cope. In 2024, 4.6 billion low-value parcels entered the EU; in 2025, the figure is expected to reach six billion, with more than 90% originating from China,  it was highlighted at the EU Consumer Day 2025, held by the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) on 1 December.

The EESC's annual event brought together representatives from European institutions, national governments and consumer and civil society organisations who unanimously sounded the alarm about the urgency of tackling the phenomenon, which is already disrupting EU markets, polluting the environment and costing the EU economy billions in tax revenue.

The event, titled Europe for sale? How global marketplaces are changing our society – and what must be done right now, opened with remarks by EESC President Séamus Boland, European Commissioner Michael Mc Grath (Democracy, Justice, the Rule of Law and Consumer Protection) and MEP Anna Cavazzini, Chair of the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO).

'As the voice of organised civil society in Europe, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) has always been very active on consumer matters,' EESC president said. 'This year we have witnessed an exponential increase in low-price goods shipped from outside the EU. We call for urgent action, including EU customs reform, stronger enforcement of existing rules – and look forward to continuing to work with the European Commission and European Parliament on tackling this issue.'

Commissioner McGrath said: 'We do have a robust legal framework that requires full compliance, and we have a clear vision of forthcoming measures that aim to strengthen both existing protections but also future enforcement. These efforts give me confidence that we can ensure that the safety and wellbeing of European consumers is protected, and that consumer confidence and trust remain high, and that fair competition between compliant businesses continues to thrive across the single market.'

'We want to see a little bit stronger action from the Commission,' MEP Cavazzini said, echoing the European Parliament’s latest resolution calling for an EU-wide market ban on products that systematically and seriously breach EU law. She pointed to the recent decision by the French authorities to suspend Shein from operating on the French market following the scandal involving child-like sex dolls.

Unprecedented urgency and mobilisation

What emerged throughout the day was a sense of unprecedented urgency. In France, more than twelve industry federations and over 100 brands have launched legal proceedings against certain platforms.

Consumer Day participants jointly called for immediate measures to halt illegal imports and restore fair competition. They stressed that this a shared European challenge. All Member States face the same systemic risks and are converging on similar proposals.

'We have concluded there's no single or simple solution to this problem. We face challenges in a global market that no national authority can solve alone. We need to use the entire toolbox, even perhaps extended,' said Karen Dahl Nielsen, Danish Safety Technology Authority.

Short-term solutions: customs reform first

The most urgent actions lie in EU customs reform, especially:

• Eliminating the de minimis threshold, which currently allows millions of low-value parcels to bypass customs and VAT checks, already foreseen for early 2026
• Introducing an EU-wide handling fee to finance systematic inspections at scale.

Speakers also underlined that Europe must reinforce its external borders, not operate 27 different enforcement regimes that create loopholes and “forum shopping” between Member States.

Medium-term solutions: enforcement, cooperation, responsibility

Longer-term measures centred on stronger enforcement and deeper cooperation across authorities:

• More resources and coordinated work between customs and market-surveillance authorities across the EU.
• Structured engagement with Chinese authorities, including the ambition for pre-export compliance checks, despite major practical obstacles.
• A requirement for a responsible economic operator inside the EU for every product sold to European consumers.
• Stronger marketplace obligations on seller verification, traceability and monitoring.
• Addressing the systemic risk posed by hyperscale platforms through centralised investigations by the European Commission and new sanctioning powers via revision of the Consumer Protection Cooperation (CPC) Regulation or the potential revision of the Digital Services Act (DSA).

A tougher and faster enforcement of EU law

Commissioner McGrath announced two major enforcement initiatives for 2026: a revamped CPC Regulation giving the EU stronger centralised powers to pursue cross-border breaches, and a new Digital Fairness Act to crack down on dark patterns, addictive design features like infinite scrolling and autoplay, and unfair personalised advertising.

There will also be an update of the Market Surveillance Regulation to reinforce product-safety checks and explore an EU-level market-surveillance authority. These measures complement the Digital Services Act, the General Product Safety Regulation and the Commission’s ongoing EU Customs Reform, including the removal of the €150 duty-free threshold from early 2026.

Commenting on the French government's rapid intervention involving child-like sex dolls sold by Shein, Manuella Péri, DGCCRF, French Ministry of Economy and Finance, said the French authorities could not use the DSA independently to deal with the problem.

In DGCCRF's view, the DSA needs to become more effective and applied more fully and consistently. Four improvements are needed: a clearer and more ambitious definition of systemic risk so that platforms repeatedly hosting illegal products can be treated as failing their obligations; stronger seller verification, moving from an obligation of means to an obligation of result; the ability to impose faster and even permanent access restrictions on platforms, similar to the CPC Regulation’s power to dereference or block sites; and finally, far better cooperation between EU and national authorities through a holistic, fully coordinated enforcement approach.

Consumer organisations urged the EU to go further by enabling authorities to block non-compliant platforms at EU level and hold marketplaces directly liable when dangerous products slip through.

Product safety crisis: 96% failure rates and widespread dangers

There is no shortage of reasons why action is overdue. Consumer organisations and authorities presented deeply troubling evidence of systemic product-safety failures. Some tests showed 96% of products purchased from major platforms failing EU safety rules.

BEUC reported that 70% of products tested across several EU countries were non-compliant or unsafe, with baby toys and USB chargers reaching almost 100% non-compliance.

Other speakers said cadmium levels in children’s jewellery reached 8,500 times the legal limit; 86% of baby toys carried serious hazards; and 97% of tested cosmetics contained prohibited chemicals.

National investigations confirm the trend: a Danish test of 100 products found 90% non-compliance and nearly 50% classified as dangerous.

'Europe is not dealing with just a handful of faulty goods. It’s confronting a systemic failure, one that strikes directly at the safety of its people, the fairness of its markets and the integrity of its values,' said Stephen Russell, ANEC (The European consumer voice in standardisation).

Economic impact: SMEs, workers and tax revenues under pressure

Evidence from Member States shows the wider economic damage caused by third-country platforms.

In his keynote speech, Simo Hiilamo, Finnish Commerce Federation, presented the study The impacts of non-EU distance selling on businesses and society which revealed staggering losses for Finland's economy.

Finland expects 50 million parcels from such platforms by the end of 2025, up from 0.8 million in 2022, 3.6 million in 2023, and 28.2 million in 2024. If in 2024, even 30% of these purchases had occurred domestically, the state would have gained €97.2 million in tax revenue; if all had been domestic, €324.2 million.

Across Europe, retailers face compliance costs representing 30–40% of product price — costs entirely bypassed by many third-country sellers.

'The low prices are only possible because platforms shift real cost onto others. They avoid customs VAT, environmental compliance, responsible packaging rules and product safety requirements. The price tag is artificially low because the rest of the society is paying the difference,' said Annika Flaten, UNI Europa. 'We need EU action to guarantee that companies compete on quality, innovation and decent growth, not on regulatory avoidance.'

Unfair competition is already visible on the high street: in Sweden, 29% of shops have disappeared in the last six years, especially in smaller towns. Lost tax revenue undermines healthcare, education and public infrastructure, directly undermining the European social model. 'Low prices are a weapon used to destroy us. One day when they defeat us, the low prices will be gone too,' said Tomáš Prouza. Confederation of Trade and Tourism of the Czech Republic.

Environmental waste adds another dimension, with third-country platforms bearing no responsibility for proper management of the waste they generate.

Concluding the event, EESC member and president of the EESC's section for Single Market, Production and Consumption, Emilie Prouzet, said: 'Europe is not for sale. We have the facts. We have the toolbox. We have the mobilisation. Now we need resolve. Because what is at stake is the integrity of our market, the safety of our citizens, and the fairness of our economy.