Does the Commission have the logistical and financial resources to really monitor the millions of products entering Europe from online platforms? This, in essence, was the underlying question driving the exchange between the Commission and the members of the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) on Tuesday 18 February.
Far from being critical of the action taken by the Commission, which presented its plan at the beginning of February to combat the abuses associated with online commerce (see EUROPE 13572/5), the MEPs highlighted the institution's efforts and the large number of investigations already underway.
However, the concern about the slow response and delayed actions to proven cases of infringement has been raised several times.
“I have the feeling that the platforms are hares that move extremely fast, and that we are an elephant - things happen very fast, while our processes are rather slow”, lamented Anna Cavazzini (Greens/EFA, German), comparing the actions taken to the punishment of Sisyphus.
“Between the first request for information and the opening of an investigation against Temu, six months passed, six months that saw the platform reach 15 million unique users in my country”, added Polish MEP Kamila Gasiuk-Pihowicz (EPP).
While the Commission admits that “there is no miracle solution”, it continues to rely on the tools already in place, such as the Digital Services Act, to step up the fight against non-compliant products. (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)