French authorities fine Shein 22 million euros for product traceability, environmental labelling and delivery time violations.
PARIS: French authorities said Wednesday that they had imposed two fines on Shein totalling more than 22 million euros ($25.5 million), citing problems with product traceability, environmental labelling and delivery times.
The new penalties bring the total fines imposed by France against the Asian fashion giant to more than 210 million euros.
The latest fines were imposed by the government’s consumer protection agency DGCCRF following a wide-ranging investigation targeting several e-commerce platforms, primarily based outside Europe, including Shein.
The first fine of 5.77 million euros targets Infinite Style Ecommerce Co Ltd (ISEL), which handles sales for Shein.
The DGCCRF accuses Shein of failing to comply with a 14-day period required for consumers to be able to reconsider certain purchases.
The watchdog also accuses the company of omitting mandatory traceability information, such as the countries where its clothing is woven, dyed and manufactured, and of failing to disclose the presence of microplastics in its fabrics.
Microplastics, primarily found in polyester, are released into the water with every machine wash, posing a serious environmental threat.
In addition, the agency imposed a fine of 16.73 million euros on Shein’s subsidiary ISSL (Infinite Styles Services Limited), accusing it of violations of consumer law.
Shein has been under fire since it established operations in France.
It is widely criticised by campaign groups and politicians for generating environmental pollution, practising unfair competition, selling goods that fail to comply with basic regulations and imposing poor working conditions in its Chinese factories.
