EU accuses Temu of hindering raid in Ireland

The European Union's antitrust enforcers have accused Chinese e-commerce giant Temu of hindering an inspection in Dublin. The European Commission, the EU's powerful regulatory body, carried out surprise raids in December 2025 to investigate whether Temu received "potentially distortive foreign subsidies."

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preliminarily finds that Temu has infringed its duty to actively cooperate on multiple aspects related to the conduct of the inspection

In a preliminary finding, the Commission stated that Temu "infringed its duty to actively cooperate on multiple aspects related to the conduct of the inspection" at its subsidiary WhaleCo's premises. Specifically, the EU noted that Temu did not provide information regarding the organization and management of its EU activities, the IT tools and systems it uses, or specific books and records. This lack of information, the EU said, prevented them from reviewing potentially relevant sources.

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cooperated fully and complied with all the requests the commission made during the inspection

Temu has rejected the EU's accusations, claiming it "cooperated fully and complied with all the requests the commission made." The company stated it will analyze the commission's claims and categorically denied receiving unfair foreign subsidies, asserting that its operations are funded by its own operating activities. Temu boasts 130 million users across the 27-nation EU, representing nearly a third of the bloc's population and making it a major online retailer in Europe.

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Not providing the information prevented the commission from reviewing sources of information that could be relevant for its investigation