Monday 15 February 2021

Ali Express and European consumer law

Since 2010, AliExpress has been connecting consumers outside of China with Chinese sellers willing to ship their products to their countries. I have no direct experience to share, but a look at the reviews on various comparison websites suggests consumers appreciate the great variety of products offered for very low prices and complain about terms of service, quality and delivery failures. 

Some complaints must have reached the Dutch consumer authorities Autoriteit Consumenten en Markten, which launched a coordinated enforcement action aided by the Dutch consumer association and the European Commission. The result is a commitment by Ali Express to bring its offer in line with European consumer laws, in particular (quoting from the Authority's press release):

  • The cooling-off period (the right of withdrawal);
    Image from Pixabay
    image from pixabay.com
  • Legal guarantees: EU rules regarding guarantees must be indicated, and complied with;
  • Extra costs: it must be indicated whether any taxes or other fees need to be paid, for example customs duties at the border;
  • Sellers: information must be provided about the identity of the seller.
  • Ranking: it must be indicated whether payments have been made in order for a seller to appear higher in the search results. 
  • General terms and conditions: these no longer violate the relevant laws;
  • Complaints: information must be provided about where consumers can turn to if they have any complaints or disputes (no longer the Court of First Instance in Hong Kong, but in the consumer’s own country).  
While many of these past violations are substantive, the enforcement action apparently framed them as a  series of misleading commercial practices - probably because this is the easiest way for an enforcement authority to intervene. 

The above does not necessarily mean that you should now go and fill your home with 1-eur plastic unicorns - emotional spending in the pandemic is still more of a current threat than being unable to litigate in Hong Kong over your shopping misfits -, but in case you do, know that EU consumer rights now ostensibly apply on AliExpress too (when your counterparts is a professional, etc etc). 

Have a great week!