The State’s attempt to impose an immediate suspension of Shein in France was defeated on Friday, December 19, by the Paris judicial court which refused to order the closure of the group’s marketplace for three months, considering the measure legally excessive in view of the alleged facts.
The procedure was initiated after the identification, at the beginning of November, of several clearly illicit products offered by third-party sellers, including child pornography dolls, category A weapons and prohibited medicines. Elements that the court did not minimize, explicitly recognizing the existence of “serious damage to public order”. However, the judges considered that these offenses did not characterize a systemic dysfunction of the platform. They noted the one-off nature of the incriminated sales and underlined the rapid reaction of Shein, which withdrew the products after reporting. In this context, the overall suspension of the marketplace was deemed disproportionate.
The State defended a more extensive reading of the risk, requesting not only the continued closure of the marketplace open to third-party sellers, but also the suspension of all sales other than clothing. A line supported by the Paris prosecutor’s office, which pointed out the technical limits of a partial blocking of the platform.
The decision does not, however, result in a blank check for Shein. The court accompanied its rejection with a targeted injunction, prohibiting the resale of sexual products likely to contain pornographic content without prior implementation of age verification mechanisms.
In his defense, Shein denounced a political and media “cabal”. The group, founded in China and now based in Singapore, recognizes the existence of illicit products, while claiming to have strengthened its control procedures. Since November 5, the platform has also restricted its activity in France to the sale of clothing from its own collections, while it conducts a complete audit of its marketplace.
The resumption of third-party seller activity will be gradual. Certain categories, particularly those related to adult content, will remain closed until age verification devices deemed compliant can be deployed.
