Paris Court Rejects France’s Request to Suspend Shein Over Illegal Products

A Paris court rejected France’s request to suspend Shein, ruling the move would be disproportionate since illegal items found on the platform had been removed. While acknowledging harm to public order, the court ordered Shein to introduce age-verification measures for certain products as authorities in France and the EU continue scrutiny of the company.

A Paris court on Friday rejected a request by the French government to temporarily suspend the operations of the Chinese-founded online fashion platform Shein, ruling that such a move would be excessive under the circumstances.

The French authorities had asked for a three-month suspension following widespread public outrage over the appearance of child-like sex dolls and other illicit products listed for sale on the platform. The discovery of these items raised serious concerns about consumer safety, child protection, and the company’s oversight of third-party sellers.

In its decision, the court said that suspending Shein would have been “disproportionate,” particularly because the products in question had already been removed from the marketplace. Alongside child-like sex dolls, investigators had also identified illegal weapons and banned medications among the items previously offered for sale.

While acknowledging that the presence of such products represented a “serious harm to public order,” the court stressed that the sale of the illicit goods had been limited and sporadic. Judges noted that only a small number of specific products were identified during the proceedings as clearly illegal and harmful, while the Shein platform hosts several hundred thousand items from a wide range of sellers.

Despite rejecting the government’s request for a suspension, the court imposed conditions on the platform. It ordered Shein to implement effective age-verification measures before resuming the sale of sexual products that could be considered pornographic, in an effort to strengthen protections for minors.

Shein welcomed the ruling, stating that it remains committed to improving its control mechanisms and strengthening internal processes to prevent the sale of prohibited items on its platform.

France’s consumer watchdog and the Finance Ministry had launched proceedings against Shein on November 5. In response to the investigation, the company suspended third-party listings identified on its marketplace but continued to sell Shein-branded clothing directly through its website.

Late last month, the European Union increased pressure on the company by invoking its “digital acquis” mechanism to demand further information on the steps Shein is taking to protect children, after Paris urged the EU to consider sanctions against the platform.

French regulators also revealed that similar illicit products had been found on several other major online marketplaces, including AliExpress, Amazon, eBay, Joom, and Temu, underscoring broader concerns about product oversight across e-commerce platforms.

Shein was founded in China in 2012 and is now headquartered in Singapore, although it continues to maintain a large portion of its manufacturing and production operations in China.