France seeks three-month suspension of Shein over sex dolls

By Helen Reid and Alessandro Parodi

PARIS (Reuters) -The French government will ask a Paris judge on Wednesday to order the suspension of Chinese online platform Shein in the country for three months over sales of childlike sex dolls and banned weapons, a finance ministry official said on Tuesday.

Shein has already disabled its marketplace - where third-party sellers offer their products to shoppers around the world - in France since November 5, after the government found the dolls and weapons for sale on the site, but the part of its website offering Shein's own clothing range is still accessible.

The government aims to secure a three-month suspension of Shein's website as a whole, under an extraordinary judicial procedure, as it pushes the company to tighten controls over the products it sells.

RULING EXPECTED IN THE COMING WEEKS

The court of Paris is set to hold a hearing on Wednesday on the accelerated judicial procedure the government has started, summoning Infinite Styles Services Co Ltd, the Dublin-based company behind Shein's business in Europe, with lawyers for the company also expected to attend.

France's case rests on Article 6.3 of the digital economy law, which gives a judge powers to prescribe measures with the aim of preventing or halting harm caused by online content.

The court will have to decide whether a suspension is warranted, and whether it is in line with European Union law. Under EU law, online marketplaces, as intermediaries, are not directly liable for products sold by third parties, but have an obligation to remove illegal products as soon as they become aware of them.

"We know how powerful Shein is from a technical standpoint, and even, I would say, in terms of its use of artificial intelligence for production, so we can assume that it has the technical, technological and financial means to carry out these checks. The fact is that it does not do so," the finance ministry official said in a press briefing.

A ruling is not expected on Wednesday, but in the coming weeks, the official said.

Shein did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

France has also summoned major internet service providers Bouygues Telecom, Free, Orange and SFR to the hearing, requesting they block Shein's website.

The government started the process to block Shein in France on the day the fast-fashion retailer opened its first physical shop in a Paris department store. 

It has also been cracking down on other online platforms, with consumer watchdog DGCCRF finding that AliExpress and Joom were also selling childlike sex dolls, while Wish, Temu, and Amazon failed to filter underage shoppers from adult content.

France is also taking its fight to the EU, pushing for the European Commission to open a formal investigation into Shein over illicit products.

(Reporting by Helen Reid and Alessandro Parodi. Additional reporting by Juliette Jabkhiro. Editing by Tomasz Janowski and Mark Potter)