The judicial review of the request by the French Government to suspend Shein in the country for three months, after it was discovered that the Chinese platform was selling sex dolls in the shape of girls, was postponed this Wednesday until December 5th.
The postponement occurred at the request of the Executive, sources from the Ministry of Economy confirmed, who also specified that “by presenting their conclusions as late as possible yesterday, Shein has prevented the hearing from being held in adequate conditions.”
The hearing this Wednesday before the Paris Judicial Court was intended to formalize the request to suspend Shein based on an article of the digital economy law which stipulates that it can intervene to “prevent harm or put an end to harm caused by the content of an online public communication service”.
You can also read: Deputies send to commission bill regulating referendums, plebiscites and popular initiatives
The controversy with Shein emerged at the beginning of this month, following the pointing out of the sale of sex dolls with a childish appearance on the platform.
The Government threatened the immediate suspension of the platform, but to avoid that closure at that time, the Chinese platform decided to temporarily suspend sales from external vendors and any product that was not clothing, in addition to removing the incriminated products within the time limits set by law for this type of case.
The Executive renounced the immediate closure but maintained the legal proceedings against the e-commerce giant before the Justice.
In parallel, this Wednesday the French government announced that it will also denounce the AliExpress and Joom portals in a similar way because “they also sell child pornography dolls”, indicated the Minister of Commerce and SMEs, Serge Papin, in an interview with the TF1 channel.
And from the European Union, steps were also taken this Wednesday against Shein, as the European Parliament approved a resolution by a show of hands on illegal and dangerous products sold through e-commerce platforms, mostly from outside the EU, such as Shein, Temu, AliExpress, and Wish.
The European Parliament concluded that the sale of sexual objects with a childlike appearance or any other type of illegal merchandise constitutes “a serious violation of Union Law”, in addition to endangering the safety of consumers and minors.
The European Commission also asked the Chinese platform this Wednesday to report on the measures it is taking to prevent minors from accessing illegal goods, “in particular child-like sex dolls and weapons”.
The French government welcomed this procedure “which could potentially lead to the opening of an investigation”, it was stated in a joint statement by Papin, the Minister of Economy, Roland Lescure, and his counterpart for Digital Transition and Telecommunications, Anne Le Hénanff.
A formal investigation, added the French ministers, could expose the company “to sanctions of up to 6% of its global turnover”.
This is the third time the Commission has requested information from Shein about the sale of illegal products on its portal.
