Temu’s European headquarters in Dublin have been raided by EU regulators investigating a potential breach of foreign subsidy regulations.
The Chinese online retailer, which is already in the European Commission’s spotlight over alleged failures to prevent illegal content being sold on its app and website, was raided last week without warning or any subsequent publicity.
“We can confirm that the commission has carried out an unannounced inspection at the premises of a company active in the e-commerce sector in the EU, under the foreign subsidies regulation,” a commission spokesperson said on Thursday.
Temu was approached for comment.
Its headquarters are on St Stephen’s Green, one of Dublin’s most prestigious addresses. Neighbours include the five-star Shelbourne hotel and Cantor Fitzgerald, a US finance company.
The EU’s foreign subsidies regulation targets companies judged to have been given a competitive advantage through government subsidies.
The EU introduced tariffs of up to 38% on a series of Chinese car manufacturers last year after a long investigation under World Trade Organization rules. It concluded the companies were receiving direct and indirect subsidies from the Chinese government, including help shipping cars to Europe and in securing land for factories.
Temu, which has about 116 million monthly users in the EU, says it offers consumers the opportunity to “shop like a billionaire” by connecting them with “millions of sellers, manufacturers and brands with the mission to empower them to live a better life”.
The commission opened an investigation into Temu last year under its 2022 Digital Services Act, which governs online platforms.
Officials said in July that preliminary findings showed Temu was not doing enough to prevent the sale of illegal products. A Temu spokesperson said at the time: “Temu takes product safety and compliance very seriously. We have a system of seller vetting, proactive monitoring and responsive takedowns to prevent, detect and remove unsafe products.”
Concerns are growing about the trade relationship between the EU and China, with figures last month showing Germany was, for the first time, importing more from China than it was exporting.
The extent of the imbalance was evident this week in figures showing that China’s global exports in the first 11 months of the year outpaced imports by more than $1tn (£750bn).
A significant portion of that surplus was generated by shipments to the EU, which last year ran a trade deficit with China of more than $350bn.
It is thought that manufacturers in China have been directing more goods to non-US markets in response to US tariffs, fuelling an export surge to Europe, Australia and south-east Asia.
