The Paris Judicial Court rejected this Friday the French State’s request for suspend platform activity for three months e-commerce platform of the company Shein following the scandal in early November concerning the sale of products such as child sex dolls, weapons and banned medicines.
While recognizing a serious breach of public order, the Paris court considers “disproportionate” the measure requested by the Government. He also added that this would constitute an “unjustified” violation of free enterprise, since sales were one-off and the Chinese company quickly removed the items in question. However, this requires the company implementing age verification measures beyond a simple declaration.
“We welcome this decision. We continue committed to the continuous improvement of our control processesin close collaboration with the French authorities, with the aim of establishing some of the most demanding standards in the sector, and we have intensified these efforts”, reacted the Asian group after the court decision. “Our priority remains to protect French consumers and guarantee compliance with local laws and regulations”, he adds.
This morning, in statements to France 2, the French Minister of Commerce, Serge Papin, although he expressed confidence that the courts would accept the suspension, stressed that, in the event that the government’s request is rejected, the fight “will continue”. On November 5, the French government initiated a procedure aimed at suspending the platform “for the time necessary” so that the company demonstrates that all of its content complies with French legislation.
The announcement of the opening of the procedure coincided with the inauguration in Paris of the first physical Shein store, located on the sixth floor of the BHV department store and with great anticipation. Likewise, at the end of November, The European Commission announced that it had requested explanations from the platform for the online sale of illegal products in the European Union, such as sex dolls reported in France or weapons, while indicating that it was investigating whether the platform presented a “systemic risk” for European consumers
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