Chinese e-commerce platform AliExpress faces a large fine in the European Union for selling illegal and counterfeit goods.
According to Reuters and other foreign media on the 20th, the European Commission said it had notified AliExpress, a distributor under China's Alibaba Group, of a fine of 550 million euros (about 930 billion won). The reason cited was a violation of the EU Digital Services Act (DSA).
The European Commission confirmed that despite AliExpress's own monitoring, illegal and counterfeit goods such as counterfeit T-shirts and shoes, unsafe children's toys, and harmful cosmetics were being distributed in large quantities. It also pointed out that AliExpress had not taken sufficient measures to protect EU consumers.
Henna Virkkunen, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, said, "The proliferation of illegal and harmful products, such as counterfeit clothing, toys whose safety has not been verified, and dangerous cosmetics, is not an inevitable cost of online shopping," adding, "It is the result of failing to fulfill obligations under the DSA."
The European Commission pointed out that the company had not secured enough personnel to review potentially illegal goods. It also raised as a problem the fact that inspection staff were bearing an excessive workload. It said there were cases in which some illegal goods were recommended and promoted before being removed from the platform.
Meanwhile, AliExpress must submit a corrective plan for these violations to the European Commission by October 20.
