The French government on Thursday escalated its crackdown on the Chinese retailer Shein, suspending the delivery of every online order the company has sent to France in the last 24 hours, and targeting more than 200,000 packages to be inspected by customs officials.
The action came a day after France’s prime minister, Sébastien Lecornu, moved to block access to Shein’s online platform in the country until the company proved that its products complied with French laws. The moves were prompted by the discovery this week of “childlike” sex dolls sold on its site, which set off a political backlash.
The customs inspections, which are taking place at Charles de Gaulle Airport, the major entry point to France for packages sent from China, are intended to bolster investigations that began this week after the discovery of the sex dolls, said Amélie de Montchalin, France’s budget minister.
“In order for us to successfully put a stop to what is clearly a noncompliant system with all our standards, rules, and tax regulations, we need to have evidence,” she said in a post on social media. “Customs officers have it every day. But today, the platform won’t be able to say that the wrong packages were opened; we will open all the packages.”
The French government also asked the European Union on Thursday open an investigation into the Chinese e-commerce site, citing the discovery of what French officials called “pedopornographic” dolls, as well as weapons that can be ordered from Shein’s marketplace.
“The platform is evidently in breach of European rules,” the French foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, said in an interview with French radio Thursday.
Henna Virkkunen, Europe’s digital commissioner, said in a post on social media that she had discussed the French investigation with French officials and would “continue working for a safer online space.” She added, “We all agree: Illegal content has no place online.”
Officials for the European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union, were in touch with Shein following the French complaint, said Thomas Regnier, the commission’s spokesman for digital affairs, who added that the commission would follow up on the French request, which “adds to concerns we have already expressed to Shein.”
“A platform that is allowing pornographic content or the selling of weapons does not meet E.U. standards,” he added.
Shein said in a statement on Wednesday that it had temporarily suspended all sales by third-party vendors on its marketplace in France and was “committed to working with the French authorities to address any concerns swiftly.”
In a separate statement Wednesday, Shein’s executive chairman, Donald Tang, said that “the fight against child exploitation is nonnegotiable” for the company. “These were marketplace listings from third-party sellers — but I take this personally,” he said.
Ms. de Montchalin appeared early Thursday at Charles de Gaulle airport alongside scores of customs agents as they tore open Shein packages to search for items that did not comply with French and European Union regulations.
She said agents had found “noncompliant and illegal products,” including unauthorized cosmetics, toys dangerous for children, counterfeit goods and defective household appliances. In a video post, she asked agents to even inspect a package of LED bulbs. “We need to make sure that these are not a health risk because we know that LED bulbs can be very dangerous if they don’t meet our standards,” she said.
The harder line against Shein comes amid a growing controversy over the company in France, which opened a store on Wednesday in Paris, its first brick-and-mortar location in the world. Demonstrators gathered outside the department store BHV Marais, where Shein held its grand opening, and shouted at shoppers and accused Shein of using cheap labor and violating environmental standards to make its clothes.
Liz Alderman is The Times’s chief European business correspondent, writing about economic, social and policy developments around Europe.
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