France ramps up pressure on EU to investigate Shein over sex dolls, weapons
PARIS (Reuters) – France on Thursday stepped up pressure on the European Union to launch a formal investigation into Chinese online fast fashion retailer Shein over the sale of child-like sex dolls and banned weapons on its marketplace.
Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Shein had “clearly” violated European rules.
“I believe that the European Commission must act. It cannot wait any longer,” Barrot said in an interview with radio station Franceinfo. he said.
France moved to ban Shein for illegal products, and Shein suspended its market in the country to “examine and strengthen” how third-party sellers were working on the product, having already stopped selling sex dolls worldwide.
“France warns the European Commission and all member states about these serious violations within its borders and expects similar risks regarding the activities of this platform in other European Union countries,” French finance minister Roland Lescure and digital minister Anne le Henanff wrote in their letter to EU technology chief Henna Virkkunen.
France called on the European Commission to conduct an investigation “without delay” to find out what led to the sale of illegal objects on the platform, according to the letter sent late Wednesday and shared with journalists on Thursday.
A European Commission spokesman confirmed receipt of the letter and said the body would evaluate it and decide on next steps.
Shein is classified as a “Very Large Online Platform” under the European Union Digital Services Act (DSA) and the Commission has the authority to investigate platforms for possible violations of this law.
The Commission can impose fines of up to 6% of a company’s global annual turnover for confirmed breaches of the DSA.
Earlier this year, it asked Shein to provide internal documents and information about the risks associated with illegal goods and content on its market.
France is also investigating Shein, among other online platforms Temu, AliExpress and Wish, for alleged rule violations involving minors being able to access pornographic content through their marketplaces, the Paris prosecutor said on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Helen Reid, Dominique Vidalon, Gabriel Stargardter; Editing by Ros Russell, Alexandra Hudson)
