Ministers opening packages at customs: France declares war on Shein

ParisFrance's crusade against Shein continues. The day after initiating proceedings to shut down the Chinese platform's website in France, the government launched an unprecedented operation this Thursday to detect the entry of products from the Chinese platform.ultra-fast fashion that do not comply with European safety regulations. The Ministers of Trade, Serge Papin, and of Public Accounts, Amélie de Montchalin, went to the customs area at Charles de Gaulle Airport to ask agents to open the 200,000 Shein packages that arrived in recent hours. Dozens of customs agents, all wearing gloves, opened the packages one by one in front of the ministers, searching for prohibited products. "The initial results show non-compliant and illegal products: unauthorized cosmetics, toys dangerous for children, counterfeit goods, and defective household appliances," De Montchalin stated. According to a study conducted by Belgian consumer associations, 70% of the products from platforms like Shein or Temu are illegal according to European standards.

The French government, furious that Shein has opened its first physical store in the world in Paris, could block access to the Asian giant's website this Friday for users connecting from France. If it follows through on its threat, it will shut down the site under a European directive that protects citizens from dangerous online content called the Digital Services Act. The European regulation is designed to block content related to pedophilia, the glorification of terrorism, or drug sales. It is not entirely clear whether it can be applied to a platform like Shein, but the French government maintains that it can.

Avoiding the shutdown

Faced with the threat of closure—which would not affect its physical store in Paris—Shein has announced that it has not only disabled the sale of products from other sellers on its website for France, but also that from now on it will only sell clothing; that is, it will stop selling products most likely to violate European regulations, such as makeup, toys, and electronics. With this step, the platform hopes to prevent France, one of its main markets, from closing its website.