Ahead of the meeting of the Committee of Permanent Representatives (Coreper) on Wednesday 26 November, the Danish Presidency of the Council of the EU has circulated a discussion paper to Member States on the weaknesses of the European legislative framework for containing the problems posed by the rapid growth of e-commerce platforms (see EUROPE 13744/7).
The issue of the dangers posed by these platforms, which are subject to few controls, customs duties and fines, has taken centre stage in recent months as the EU seeks to stem the flood of parcels arriving on its soil every day, the majority of which do not comply with European standards (see EUROPE 13623/11).
MEPs, for their part, are calling for urgent action and for the full power of the DSA to be used to penalise offending platforms (see EUROPE 13757/12).
The document asks the EU27 to “reflect on how existing EU instruments and frameworks can be leveraged more effectively to ensure effective collective enforcement” and poses three questions:
- Do all Member States share the concerns raised about the platforms in question (Shein, Temu, AliExpress)?
- How can we ensure that the various legislative texts (DSA, consumer protection, product safety, etc.) are more coherent at European level to ensure an effective response to the challenges posed?
- Is it necessary to reassess the liability exemption for third-country platform providers and make them more responsible for the goods sold on their platforms?
This first survey by the Danish Presidency of the EU Council comes just a few weeks after the scandal caused by Shein in France and the discovery of cases of illegal and child pornographic items being sold on the platform (see EUROPE 13747/2).
Since then, other countries have reported the sale of weapons or prescription medicines on these same platforms.
Read the document: https://aeur.eu/f/jmd (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)