Khaberni - On Thursday, France increased its pressure on the European Union to initiate an official investigation into the Chinese fast-fashion online retailer "Shein," due to its sale of sex dolls resembling children and illegal weapons on its online platform.
On Wednesday, France moved to ban "Shein" due to its illegal products, prompting the company to suspend its platform in the country to "review and enhance" how external vendors operate on it. The company had already stopped the sale of all sex dolls worldwide.
French Foreign Minister Jean Noel Baro said in an interview with "France Info" radio station: "I believe the platform clearly violates European regulations," adding, "The European Commission must act. It can’t wait any longer," according to "Reuters."
The "Shein" website was still available in France on Thursday. However, it only displayed the company’s clothing products instead of the wide variety of toys, household goods, and tools usually available on the platform, which had been an increasing source of revenue for the company.
French Finance Minister Roland Lescure and Minister of Digital Affairs Anne Le Henanff wrote a letter to the European Commissioner for Technology, Hina Virkunen, on Wednesday evening, urging the European Commission to investigate Shein "without delay."
The letter stated: "France alerts the European Commission and all member states to these serious violations within its borders and anticipates similar risks associated with this platform’s activities in other EU countries."
A spokesperson for the Commission confirmed receipt of the letter and said the executive arm of the 27-state Union would evaluate it and decide the next steps.
Shein is classified as a "very large online platform" under the EU Digital Services Act, and the Commission has the authority to investigate platforms for any potential violations of this law.
The Digital Services Act requires online platforms to collect and verify information about external vendors and to scrutinize their markets for rule-breaking products.
The European Commission can impose fines of up to 6% of the company's total annual global revenue if it confirms a violation of the law.
Shein's global revenues reached $37 billion in 2024, according to the latest file submitted by its parent company "Rodget Business Pte Ltd." in Singapore.
The average monthly users of the Shein platform in the European Union are about 146 million, according to the latest transparency report submitted under the requirements of the Digital Services Act.
Earlier this year, the European Commission requested the company to provide internal documents and information about risks associated with illegal goods and content on its platform.
The Commission is also conducting a separate investigation with the Tmall platform, owned by the Chinese company "PDD Holdings" under the same law, where preliminary findings in July indicated that the platform violates European rules by not taking enough measures to prevent the sale of illegal products across its platform.
