The European Union (EU) has slapped Chinese e-commerce platform AliExpress with a fine of 550 million euros, approximately 930 billion won.
The European Commission stated that adequate measures were not taken despite the massive distribution of unsafe children's toys, hazardous cosmetics, and illegal and counterfeit products on Alibaba.
[Thomas Regnier / EU Spokesperson: According to internal reports directly filed by Alibaba, about 15 million illegal items were recommended to European Union consumers last year.]
The EU argues that although Alibaba itself was aware of the product issues, it failed to secure sufficient personnel to vet the products, and existing inspection staff were overloaded.
Consequently, the EU stated that these actions by Alibaba violated the Digital Services Act (DSA), which was enacted to protect European Union consumers in online commerce and other areas.
Under the DSA enacted in 2022, fines of up to 6 percent of global revenue can be imposed, and the 550 million euros is the highest fine levied to date.
Alibaba, which must submit a corrective plan to the EU by October 20, refuted that the fine was excessively harsh, claiming the EU ignored its efforts to improve the problems.
The EU has previously applied the DSA to impose fines not only on Alibaba, but also on Chinese online platform companies Shein and Temu.
In addition, starting last week, it began imposing a 3 euro per item tariff on Chinese-originated parcels under 150 euros, which had previously been duty-free.
Despite concerns over trade friction, such as introducing regulations to restrict subsidies for Chinese cars in the automobile market, Europe's regulatory controls to protect its market are tightening further.
(Video Editing: Jung Sung-hoon)
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