After expressing doubts about the “systemic” quality of the risks posed by the Shein platform (see EUROPE 13747/2), the European Commission finally changed its mind and decided, on Wednesday 26 November, to send a request for additional information to the brand to explain the illegal products found for sale on its site (see EUROPE 13746/16).
The Commission’s action comes three weeks after France issued warnings, firstly following the discovery of the sale of dolls of a child sexual abuse nature on the platform, and then of firearms and prescription medicines.
While Shein claims to have removed all illegal products and suspended all sales made on its French site by third-party sellers, the platform is still far from finished with the authorities.
Shein must now provide the European Commission with “detailed information and internal documents on how it ensures that minors are not exposed to content that is inappropriate for their age [...] and on how it prevents the circulation of illegal products on its platform”. All these requests are made under the Digital Services Act (DSA).
In the light of the French reports, the Commission is also questioning “the effectiveness of the risk mitigation measures” put in place by Shein. “This request for information does not presume that an investigation will be opened in the future”, explained Thomas Regnier, the Commission’s spokesman. “But we take this matter very seriously, and encourage Shein to cooperate fully with us” he added.
This is the third time that the European Commission has requested additional information from Shein (see EUROPE 13442/6, 13574/10). Unlike its compatriots AliExpress and Temu, it is not yet the subject of an official investigation under the DSA (see EUROPE 13516/9). The platform has just over two weeks to send the documents to the Commission.
At the European Parliament, the motion for a resolution on the subject (see EUROPE 13557/12) was broadly approved by the House early this afternoon. MEPs are in favour of swift and significant sanctions and are calling for the suspension of the offending platform to no longer be considered a last resort.
The elected representatives believe that the allegations made against Shein “are not evidence of isolated incidents, but of a faulty system that cannot be remedied simply by withdrawing a product or issuing a public apology”.
An informal cross-party group was launched on Tuesday 25 November at the initiative of French S&D MEPs François Kalfon and Pierre Jouvet, and now comprises thirty-six MEPs who want to continue to put pressure on the European Commission to achieve real results and “firm, swift and exemplary sanctions” against abuse on platforms.
In France, the government has asked the courts to suspend the platform for a minimum of three months, with a conditional reopening. The hearing, which was due to take place on Wednesday morning before the Paris judicial court, has been postponed until 5 December. This was due to the platform’s delay in filing its submissions, which prevented the hearing from taking place.
Earlier in the day, the French Minister for Trade, Serge Papin, also announced that the French government was going to lodge a complaint against AliExpress and Joom, two other online retailers, again for “the sale of dolls connected with child sexual abuse”. (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)