Report from Reuters
In Brief – France’s consumer protection agency, the DGCCRF, reported that it purchased over 600 “high risk” items from seven large foreign-based ecommerce platforms and deemed that 75% failed to comply with EU product safety or labeling standards, with 46% failing both. The regulator said the results revealed systemic safety concerns with all tested electrical appliances, including hair-care devices, being non-compliant, and roughly three-quarters posing risks such as electric shock or fire. Other categories, including children’s products, jewelry, and clothing, showed frequent violations like choking hazards and excessive chemical content. The regulator, which did not identify the platforms, did note that the findings were not representative of all products sold on the online platforms as they targeted high-risk items and categories.
Context – When Shein opened its first physical shop in Europe in a Paris department store last November, it drew shoppers, protestors, and swift French government action. The Paris public prosecutor’s office pursued a three-month suspension of the website, but a Paris court rejected that motion. Later, France’s Minister of Small and Medium Businesses said that Shein and other online retail platforms will face a “year of resistance” from traditional storefront retailers and their backers in the government, who were preparing legislation to allow the government to suspend online platforms without needing court approval. The CEO of a French grocery store chain has called for Shein and Temu to be banned in Europe for two years while new EU rules to regulate them are crafted, and a coalition of French retailers and brand owners have filed a €3 billion class action lawsuit accusing Shein of unfair competition. Consumer advocates and traditional retailers in Europe have long complained about the sale of unsafe products on digital marketplace, with Temu and Shein now joining Amazon and AliExpress as top targets. All three Chinese-based ecommerce platforms are now the subject of Digital Services Act investigations by the European Commission.