TEMU examination finished
In August 2024, the Austrian Federal Competition Authority (AFCA) received a comprehensive complaint from the Austrian Retail Association regarding several breaches of fair competition rules on the online shopping platform www.temu.com. The competition regulator initiated an investigation in accordance with its remit pursuant to the Unfair Competition Act (UWG).
| The following breaches were brought to the attention of the AFCA: | |
| Manipulative business practices | Accusation confirmed |
| Artificial scarcity | Accusation confirmed |
| Misleading advertising images and product descriptions | Accusation confirmed |
| Legal relationship between TEMU and its authorised retailers | Relationship clarified |
| Non-binding information about selling prices | AFCA not entitled to investigate |
| Missing or faked CE marks | European Commission proceedings against TEMU |
Remedial measures taken by TEMU
The AFCA confronted TEMU with the breaches. TEMU subsequently initiated an internal investigation and arranged for the breaches identified by the AFCA to be remedied. Based on the admonition issued by the AFCA, TEMU introduced new measures in order to prevent any repeat of such misleading business practices by retailers on its platform. These measures include:
- Setting up a task force to carry out comprehensive checks on the bestsellers on the Austrian website
- Creating a new detection and remedy mechanism.
This should help to prevent situations in which consumers are deceived by misleading product descriptions.
The AFCA reserves the right to take relevant steps in the event of repeated or new misleading business practices.
Considerable increase in UWG complaints
The Federal Competition Authority received 229 UWG complaints about aggressive or misleading business practice in 2025 (nearly 100% more than in 2024), an upward trend that has accelerated in recent times. In addition to consumers, it is increasingly also businesses (mainly SMEs) that are filing complaints with the AFCA, and these relate, for example, to misleading prices on the electricity market or company register bogus firms. The AFCA has also been dealing with the offering of services in the healthcare sector without the necessary qualifications, issues relating to trade law, and one case of an influencer not labelling posts as advertisements. The complaints cover several economic sectors, among them online grocery retailing and cosmetics.
For further information about UWG cases, please click here.
AFCA interventions pursuant to the UWG
The AFCA has no investigative powers pursuant to the UWG and can therefore only file an application for cease-and-desist orders. In accordance with § 2 para. 2 no. 2 of the Competition Act (WettbG), the AFCA is entitled – in case of breaches of §§ 1, 1a, 2 and 2a UWG – to assert claims for a cease-and-desist order pursuant to § 14 para. 1 UWG in the public interest. The AFCA is treated like a private party in UWG proceedings, bearing the full litigation cost risk. It can therefore currently only obtain information on a cooperative basis. If there is corroborative evidence, the AFCA will submit an admonition letter. However, an AFCA admonition does not have any binding legal effect.
In this context, the AFCA welcomes the initiative to strengthen its remit (see press release of 14 January 2026).
Complaints
Complaints may be lodged by using the form at https://www.bwb.gv.at/en/complaints or by email to wettbewerb@bwb.gv.at. The AFCA set up its own dedicated UWG unit in January 2024. Additionally, the AFCA’s whistleblowing system can be used to file complaints anonymously.
As well as the option of lodging complaints with the Austrian regulator, the AFCA also recommends using TEMU’s complaints system at https://www.temu.com/digital-services-act-help.html.
TEMU Case Report (in German)