Chinese online retailer Temu suspended in Vietnam

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Vietnam has suspended the operations of Chinese online retailer Temu after it failed to meet a government deadline to register the company by the end of November.

It is unclear if Temu, a unit of Chinese e-commerce giant Pinduoduo, will be allowed to resume its business once it registers. The suspension comes after the ministry had raised concerns about the authenticity of Temu’s extremely cheap products and their impact on Vietnamese manufacturers.

Temu said Thursday it was working with the Vietnam E-commerce and Digital Economy Agency and the Ministry of Industry and Trade to register its e-commerce services and had submitted required documents.

Temu began selling goods in Vietnam in October with aggressive discounts and free shipping. The government had warned the company that its app and website would be blocked if it did not register before an end-of-November deadline, official Vietnam News Agency cited the Ministry of Industry and Trade as saying.

On Thursday, Vietnamese language options were removed from Temu’s website. A notification on the site said that Temu was working “with the Vietnam E-commerce and Digital Economy Agency and the Ministry of Industry and Trade to register its provision of e-commerce services in Vietnam.”

Temu is being investigated in Europe over suspicions it was failing to prevent the sale of illegal products.