A Paris court on Friday rejected the state’s request to temporarily block Shein’s website in France. The measure was deemed “disproportionate” after the Asian e-commerce giant voluntarily removed the illegal products from sale.
The court recognized “serious damage to public order”. This arose from the sale of sex dolls that looked like little girls, as well as weapons and medicine. However, it classified these sales as “selective” and noted that the platform had removed the products.
However, the court issued an order against Shein. The company will not be allowed to resume sales of “sexual products with a potentially pornographic nature without introducing age verification measures.”
The state’s request to require Shein to “at least” maintain the blocking of its marketplace was not met. Third-party products are sold on this marketplace.
“In these proceedings, only certain products of the marketplace were identified as obviously illegal and harmful, while the platform ‘fr.Shein.com’ offers several hundred thousand items for sale,” the court stated in its decision.
The court said it did not observe that the banned items were offered for sale “repeatedly and massively.” Instead, it praised Shein’s “consistent and prompt” response after reporting these articles.
Even though the state’s lawsuit was dismissed, the Shein marketplace will not fully reopen immediately. The reopening should take place gradually, as the company’s lawyers explained during the hearing. In particular, the company admits difficulties in setting up an effective age filter for pornographic products. Therefore, the category for adult sexual products remains closed for now. This has been the case worldwide since the scandal uncovered in France.
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