European Parliament Targets Shein and Backs France’s Platform Suspension

“The Shein scandal in France is a serious violation of European Union law.“ So reads a statement released today by the European Parliament, which notes that “the recent controversy surrounding Shein in France is the result of inadequate supervision over e-commerce platforms.“ Following the French government’s decision to temporarily suspend Shein’s activity in France after having detected the sale of child-like sex dolls, the European Parliament demands “legal reforms”.

The European Parliament adopted today, Wednesday, by a show of hands a resolution addressing the issue of illegal and unsafe products sold in the European Union through e-commerce platforms, mostly from outside the EU territory, “such as Shein, Temu, AliExpress and Wish”. “MEPs point to systemic failures in oversight and preventive mechanisms and reject that these are isolated incidents,“ the Parliament notes.

The resolution states that what happened in France constitutes a “serious violation of EU law” as well as a threat to the safety of consumers and minors in particular. “MEPs urge the European Commission and the Member States of the Union to move from dialogue to decisive measures to implement the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the General Product Safety Regulation (Gpsr),“ the text reads.

MEPs point out that the activity of these companies should be temporarily suspended in cases of “repeated, serious or systemic infringements”

At the same time, the Parliament regrets the “slow progress of the Commission’s investigations into online platforms from outside the European Union, which take months or even years.“ It also insists that the activity of these companies should be temporarily suspended in cases of “repeated, serious or systemic infringements of Union law, as in the case of Shein in France.“ This option should no longer be treated as an exceptional measure of last resort, according to the text.

According to the communiqué, MEPs are deeply concerned about the large volume of small packages that do not respect the rules, “from Shein and other platforms outside the European Union.“ The resolution calls for a “significant increase in financial and operational support to customs and market surveillance authorities”, in particular by increasing their allocation in the next multiannual financial framework.The resolution calls for a “significant increase in financial and operational support to customs and market surveillance authorities”, in particular by increasing their allocation in the next multiannual financial framework, as well as the introduction of a harmonized handling fee at EU level in line with World Trade Organization (WTO) rules, to cover the costs of supervision.

The text stresses the need for sufficiently dissuasive sanctions and proposes bringing forward the timetable for implementing the new EU Customs Code. MEPs also call for new regulatory reforms and obligations to ensure that online marketplaces operate in accordance with the law and are held accountable in the event of non-compliant products reaching the EU market.