EU lawmakers want easier platform suspensions after Shein’s childlike sex doll sales in France, demanding better DSA enforcement and product safety rules.
STRASBOURG: EU lawmakers have called for easier suspension of e-commerce platforms following outrage in France over Shein selling childlike sex dolls.
The French government is seeking a three-month suspension of the platform, with a court hearing scheduled for December 5 after a postponement.
The Digital Services Act currently allows Brussels to temporarily suspend platforms as a last-resort measure.
A majority of European Parliament lawmakers backed a resolution stating suspension “should no longer be treated as an exceptional, last-resort measure”.
The text urged “the swifter and easier activation of interim measures… including the temporary suspension of the operation of online marketplaces in cases of repeated, serious or systemic breaches of EU law”.
Lawmakers demanded better enforcement of the DSA and product safety rules by EU states and the European Commission.
French authorities have launched probes into Shein and rival AliExpress over the sex doll sales.
Shein, founded in China but now based in Singapore, has vowed to cooperate and says it is banning all sex dolls.
EU lawmakers also expressed concern about “non-compliant” small parcels from Shein and other non-EU platforms.
They highlighted issues including “underpaid labour, unlawful imitation of designers’ work, the marketing of unsafe and non-compliant products, and the accumulation of textile waste”.
The EU aims to scrap duty exemptions on low-value orders by 2026 to tackle cheap Chinese imports, rather than 2028 as previously planned.
Currently no levies apply to packages under 150 euros imported directly to consumers in the 27-nation bloc.
