France today demanded a series of measures from Shein to prove products sold on its website comply with the law, but backed off from its earlier push for a three-month full suspension of the online platform over the sale of childlike sex dolls and banned weapons.
In a Paris court hearing, a lawyer for the state said Shein must put controls in place on its website, including age verification and filtering, to ensure minors cannot access pornographic content.
They asked the court to enforce the suspension of its marketplace until Shein has shown evidence of such controls to French communications regulator Arcom.
Shein disabled its marketplace - where third-party sellers list their products - in France on November 5, after authorities found the illegal items for sale, but its site selling Shein-branded clothing remains accessible.
The state has invoked Article 6.3 of France's digital economy law, which gives a judge powers to prescribe measures with the aim of preventing or halting harm caused by online content.
"We don't claim to be here to replace the European Commission," the state lawyer said. "We are not here today to regulate, we are here to prevent harm, faced with things that are unacceptable."
In a statement last week, the Paris prosecutor's office said a three-month suspension could be deemed "disproportionate" under the case law of the European Court of Human Rights if Shein could prove it has stopped all sales of illegal goods.
However, the prosecutor said it "fully backed" the government's demand that Shein provide evidence of measures taken to end those sales.
France's move comes amid broader scrutiny of Chinese giants such as Shein and Temu under the EU's Digital Services Act, reflecting concerns about consumer safety, illegal product sales and unfair competition.
Meanwhile in the US, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said on Monday he is investigating Shein to determine whether the fast fashion retailer violated state law related to unethical labour practices and the sale of unsafe consumer products.
