French court orders Shein to verify age for adult products, rejects government suspension request

By Helen Reid and Hugo Lhomedet

PARIS, Dec 19 (Reuters) - A Paris court ordered Shein to implement age verification measures for any adult products sold via its French website and set a 10,000 euro ($11,709) fine for any breach, after uproar over childlike sex dolls sold on its marketplace.

The ruling on Friday comes as authorities try to force Shein to tighten oversight of products sold by third parties on its site, and as France attempts to crack down on it and other platforms.

However, the court rejected the French government's request to suspend Shein's website as a whole for three months, saying that would be "disproportionate", alleviating some of the pressure the Chinese online platform faces in France.

"We welcome this decision. We remain committed to continuously improving our control processes, in close collaboration with the French authorities, with the aim of establishing some of the most stringent standards in the industry, and we have been intensifying these efforts," a Shein spokesperson said in a statement following the ruling. 

"Our priority remains protecting French consumers and ensuring compliance with local laws and regulations," they added.

Shein has been embroiled in a scandal since France's consumer watchdog DGCCRF found sex dolls resembling children and banned weapons for sale on its marketplace, prompting a government attempt to suspend the platform.

With the French government's request rejected, Shein could now reinstate its marketplace in France, having suspended it early last month after the DGCCRF findings. Its site selling Shein-branded clothing has remained accessible throughout. 

'PEDOPORNOGRAPHIC' SEX DOLLS

The Court of Paris on Friday said Shein must implement measures to verify age -- more than a simple declaration -- to prevent "sexual products that may constitute pornographic content" from being accessed by minors.

The French government began proceedings to suspend Shein on November 5, less than two hours after the company's first ever physical store opened in the BHV department store in Paris.

The court said in a statement that Shein had removed the products rapidly, and that a systematic lack of controls, oversight or regulation had not been proven.

Christine Cerrada, a lawyer and legal adviser for French child protection group L'Enfance au Coeur, said the French court's actions were "clearly insufficient".

"From a legal standpoint, it is well known that age‑verification measures are extremely difficult to implement," she said following the ruling.

Shein banned all sex dolls and suspended the adult products category from its marketplace globally on November 3 after the consumer watchdog's findings. It could decide to keep that suspension in place, thus avoiding the question of age verification. 

Shein, which is privately owned but aims to go public in Hong Kong after failed attempts at listing in New York and London, had global revenues of $37 billion in 2024, the most recent filing of its parent company Roadget Business Pte Ltd in Singapore shows.

FRENCH CRACKDOWN ON ONLINE PLATFORMS

France's consumer regulator also said last month it had found five other platforms - AliExpress, Amazon, eBay, Joom, and Temu - sold illicit products in France. But none of those suspended their marketplaces, and the government has not targeted them to the same extent as Shein.

In a hearing earlier this month, lawyers for Shein argued that it is facing discriminatory treatment and that there was a "crusade" against it by politicians and the media.

France has in recent weeks pushed European authorities to crack down on Shein as well, calling for a formal investigation under the EU law governing online platforms.

The European Commission requested further information from Shein on illegal products but stopped short of opening an investigation.

France's crackdown is also about competition, with retailers saying Shein's rock-bottom prices and rapid growth are enabled by a customs duty loophole.

The EU last week agreed on a 3-euro fee on low-value ecommerce parcels that were previously entering the bloc duty-free, following in the footsteps of the United States in removing the "de minimis" provision.

($1 = 0.8540 euros) 

(Reporting by Helen Reid, Dominique Patton, Benoit Van Overstraeten; Editing by Charlotte Van Campenhout, Alexander Smith and Susan Fenton)