European Union tightens siege on Shein, henceforth “large platform” | Fashion

The European Union (EU) determined that the fast fashion Chinese Shein becomes a large online platform (with the English acronym VLOP for “very large online platforms“), after having registered a high number of users, they informed in a statement this Friday. Every month, more than 108 million Europeans use the online store.

Companies with more than 45 million users are considered VLOP under the EU Digital Services Regulation (RSD), facing stricter rules that require them to regulate illegal and harmful content as well as counterfeit products on their platforms.

The retailer, founded in 2008 in China and now based in Singapore, said it was committed to complying with the rules. “We share the European Commission’s ambition to ensure that EU consumers can shop online calmly and we are committed to playing our role”, declares Leonard Lin, global director of public affairs at Shein, in a statement.

Shein, which intends to enter the stock exchange in the USA, launched the EU market in August last year ─ despite already shipping to Portugal before. From now on, the company has four months (“that is, until the end of August 2024”, says the EU, in a statement) to adopt “specific measures to protect and protect online users, including minors”, with emphasis on mental health and safety.

O RSD applies to all online platforms since February 17th of this year. Sixteen technology companies, including Amazon, Apple, Alibaba, Microsoft and three pornography websites, are subject to the RSDwith the EU asking for information on the measures taken to comply with the requirements of the regulation.

The European Commission is already investigating social media platform X and ByteDance’s TikTok. Infringements can result in fines of up to 6% of a company’s global turnover.

The RSD measures are in line with the issue of human rights in the supply chain, which also makes sense considering Shein’s reputation. The documentary Inside the Shein Machine: Untoldcarried out in 2022 by the British public channel Channel 4, sent secret cameras inside the company’s factories and discovered that workers worked 18-hour days, with just one day off per month, producing 500 pieces of clothing per day and earning 3.45 cents per piece.

As such, the RSD also determines that the company complies with the transparency rule, with the presentation of biannual reports “on content moderation decisions and risk management.” Furthermore, they must reinforce the tracking of all suppliers on the platforms.

In recent months, Shein has seen the siege tightening and France recently announced that it will begin to legislate the ultra fast-fast fashion, where the Chinese platform, such as Temu, fits. The objective is to “limit excesses”, by banning advertising for this very cheap clothing, as well as imposing an environmental tax, which could make these brands less attractive to consumers.