EU watchdogs raid Temu’s Dublin HQ in overseas subsidy investigation

[ad_1] Temu’s European headquarters in Dublin have been raided by EU regulators investigating a possible breach of overseas subsidy rules.

The Chinese language on-line retailer, which is already within the European Fee’s highlight over alleged failures to stop unlawful content material being bought on its app and web site, was raided final week with out warning or any subsequent publicity.

“We will affirm that the fee has carried out an unannounced inspection on the premises of an organization energetic within the e-commerce sector within the EU, beneath the overseas subsidies regulation,” a fee spokesperson stated on Thursday.

Temu was approached for remark.

Its headquarters are on St Stephen’s Inexperienced, considered one of Dublin’s most prestigious addresses. Neighbours embrace the five-star Shelbourne lodge and Cantor Fitzgerald, a US finance firm.

The EU’s overseas subsidies regulation targets corporations judged to have been given a aggressive benefit via authorities subsidies.

The EU launched tariffs of as much as 38% on a collection of Chinese language automobile producers final yr after an extended investigation beneath World Commerce Group guidelines. It concluded the businesses have been receiving direct and oblique subsidies from the Chinese language authorities, together with assist transport automobiles to Europe and in securing land for factories.

Temu, which has about 116 million month-to-month customers within the EU, says it affords customers the chance to “store like a billionaire” by connecting them with “hundreds of thousands of sellers, producers and types with the mission to empower them to stay a greater life”.

The fee opened an investigation into Temu final yr beneath its 2022 Digital Companies Act, which governs on-line platforms.

Officers stated in July that preliminary findings confirmed Temu was not doing sufficient to stop the sale of unlawful merchandise. A Temu spokesperson stated on the time: “Temu takes product security and compliance very significantly. Now we have a system of vendor vetting, proactive monitoring and responsive takedowns to stop, detect and take away unsafe merchandise.”

Issues are rising in regards to the commerce relationship between the EU and China, with figures final month exhibiting Germany was, for the primary time, importing extra from China than it was exporting.

The extent of the imbalance was evident this week in figures exhibiting that China’s world exports within the first 11 months of the yr outpaced imports by greater than $1tn (£750bn).

A good portion of that surplus was generated by shipments to the EU, which final yr ran a commerce deficit with China of greater than $350bn.

It's thought that producers in China have been directing extra items to non-US markets in response to US tariffs, fuelling an export surge to Europe, Australia and south-east Asia.