The French Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) has issued a stark report, revealing that 75 percent of imported products purchased from major online platforms in 2025 failed to meet European Union safety and regulatory standards. Alarmingly, 46 percent of those products were deemed both non-compliant and outright dangerous. This analysis, which scrutinized over 600 items from seven foreign marketplaces—a testing volume tripling that of previous years—highlights a systemic failure in the oversight of global e-commerce. The findings are consistent with broader European trends; a separate 2024 study found that between 85 to 95 percent of products from platforms like Shein, AliExpress, and Temu also violated EU product regulations, suggesting this is a widespread industry issue rather than an isolated problem.
According to the DGCCRF, the nature of the violations was severe and spanned multiple product categories. Every single electrical appliance tested, including hair-care devices, was non-compliant, with nearly three-quarters presenting significant dangers such as risks of electrical shock or fire. The report also identified widespread breaches in children’s products, jewelry, and clothing, citing hazards like choking risks and the presence of excessive levels of hazardous chemicals. These failures point to critical gaps in product safety protocols and supply chain management on the part of the platforms involved, placing consumers at direct risk.
The French authority will share its comprehensive findings with the European Commission, paving the way for potential enforcement actions under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA). This legislation empowers the Commission to impose substantial fines of up to 6 percent of a platform’s global annual turnover for systemic failures to mitigate risks. Notably, the European Commission is already conducting formal proceedings against Shein, Temu, and AliExpress, indicating a coordinated regulatory crackdown on non-compliant goods entering the European single market. The threat of such significant financial penalties is intended to compel platforms to overhaul their compliance and monitoring systems fundamentally.
A senior official from the DGCCRF emphasized the structural nature of the problem, stating that non-compliance rates of 70 to 75 percent indicate this is embedded within the business model of the affected platforms, not a series of exceptions. While the regulator did not publicly name the specific seven platforms analyzed due to ongoing investigations, the scale and consistency of the failures strongly implicate major international online marketplaces known for direct shipping from overseas manufacturers. This regulatory action underscores a pivotal shift in the EU’s approach to digital marketplace governance, moving from post-market surveillance to proactive enforcement of platform accountability for the safety of all goods sold to European consumers.
