[spwa4]

You realize the EU let Chinese sellers sell lead-containing painted toys to EU babies for 12 years despite endless warnings, right? They will not act unless forced or it's easy enough.

The EU came from the "European Union of coal and steel". It's a business first, not a government. And yes, they've really deceived a lot of people about this.

That's why we have the DMA ... except for Apple ... except for Google, as if that doesn't negate the entire law.

That's why we have the GPDR, except for (just for the Netherlands) any company the government wants https://www.avgregisterrijksoverheid.nl/ (specifically this negates the purpose of the GPDR. The first purpose of it was to protect your medical data from insurers, taxes, police and courts, so the insurer cannot decide you're committing fraud based on your medical data, or raise prices for you, or ... for example) well "ministerie-van-sociale-zaken-en-werkgelegenheid" has a specific exemption so they can regulate whether unemployment money can be used for medical treatment, and which ones ... And that's just one example.

[graemep]

> The EU came from the "European Union of coal and steel". It's a business first, not a government. And yes, they've really deceived a lot of people about this.

That is true, but omits an important part of the motive for that. The aim was to tie France and Germany together economically to discourage them from going to war again.

It became irrelevant quite quickly due to the cold war and NATO, but it was an important part of what was intended.

[spwa4]

And yet, it seems awfully consistent with letting China export poisoned toys for children. In fact the EU made itself the only arbiter of what can be imported, then proceeding to allow that. Not by changing the law, but by simply not checking.

And of course, we keep having people claiming that they were, despite a decade of complaints about it, including in courts, somehow not aware that they were doing this. Why?

To say nothing of the other problems with Chinese goods: repression, use of slavery, use of child labor, ...

Now they'll do something about China (or so they claim) ... right after they created the same situation for South America, who also have a history of moral failings when it comes to products: repression, use of slavery, use of child labor, ...

This is exactly what I'd expect a business conglomerate, willing to make any compromise, allow any practice, as long as they can deflect blame and make a lot of money on it ... exactly

[bojan]

The toys are the problem because there are so many being imported they can't possibly control them all.

And if the EU tries to do something structural about it the backlash is enormous - look at that 3 euro fee for packages for example.