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Brussels has launched a SHEIN survey, the China-based electronic commerce platform, due to fear that the company violates European consumer protection rules by selling illegal products.
An EU official said on Wednesday that there were “reasonable suspicions” of generalized violations of EU consumer protection laws by society. Brussels examines if Shein has pushed the unfair contract conditions, deceptive price reductions and unfair commercial practices. There is already a similar investigation ongoing against TEMU, the Chinese online shopping company.
This is the last problem for Shein, the fast fashion group whose headquarters are in Singapore which plans to publicly exchange its actions in London in the first half of 2025, targeting an assessment of 50 billion pounds sterling. Donald Trump’s repression against access without a price for small goods could also kiss his business model.
The EU probe is part of a greater repression of the block on the flow of imports from China, in the midst of concerns about the rise in dangerous and counterfeit goods shipped from Asia. Brussels Wednesday announcement plans to make electronic commerce platforms such as TEMU, Shein and Amazon Marketplace responsible for dangerous or illegal products sold online. More than 90% of plots of 4.6 billion imported value imported into the EU in 2024 came from China.
Shein said that he shared “the objective of guaranteeing that European consumers can buy online with peace of mind” and that the company intends to “work in close collaboration” with the National Protection Authorities and the European Commission to respond to any concern.
If Shein has violated the EU consumer protection rules, this may be sentenced to a fine by the national authorities of the European Union.
Shein is already under investigation by the Commission under separate rules on the police of the market behavior of large online platforms. In this survey, Shein risks fines up to 6% of its annual world turnover.
Shein, which sells clothes of thousands of Chinese companies at ultra-basic prices around the world, is still waiting for Chinese regulators to give their approval to register abroad.
Last summer, the group filed confidential documents with the financial regulator of the United Kingdom for registration and it still undergoes a reasonable diligence. He first targeted New York but moved to London after being rejected by American regulators.
Shein was also in the reticle of British deputies recently and was accused of lacking respect for a parliamentary committee after refusing to answer several questions on the integrity of his supply chain within the framework of a wider investigation .
The company subsequently provided answers written to a part of the question, but Liam Byrne, the chairman of the committee, brought back after having said that he had not specified if he sent for British products with from the Cotton of Xinjiang, an area linked to the accusations of forced work.
Shein has faced allegations of bad working practices in her supply chain, but said on several occasions that she had a “zero tolerance policy” concerning forced work.
