{"id":427849,"date":"2025-05-26T14:43:31","date_gmt":"2025-05-26T12:43:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2025\/05\/26\/e-commerce-shein-inchiesta-ue-consumatori\/"},"modified":"2025-05-26T16:58:58","modified_gmt":"2025-05-26T14:58:58","slug":"e-commerce-eu-probes-shein-over-consumer-protection-violations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2025\/05\/26\/e-commerce-eu-probes-shein-over-consumer-protection-violations\/","title":{"rendered":"E-commerce: EU probes Shein over consumer protection violations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels – Ensuring a secure and transparent digital environment for European consumers while respecting the rules in force:\u00a0this is the aim of the latest joint action<\/strong>, launched by the<\/strong> EU Commission and the national authorities<\/strong> of Belgium, France, Ireland, and the Netherlands, coordinated through the CPC (Consumer Protection Cooperation) network, against the Chinese e-commerce platform Shein<\/strong>. The investigation uncovered several\u00a0business practices that violate European consumer protection law. After today’s (May 26)\u00a0notification<\/a>, Shein\u00a0has one month to respond to the complaints and propose corrective measures.<\/p>\n

According to the findings, the violations<\/strong> concern multiple aspects of the platform’s online shopping experience. These include fake discount<\/strong>s — price reductions not based on real previous prices — pressure selling techniques, such as artificial countdowns to push users to buy quickly and missing or misleading information about cancellation and refund rights<\/strong>. Also contested are deceptive product\u00a0labels that make particular product features look special when, in fact, the relevant feature is required by law, misleading sustainability claims, and the lack of transparency<\/strong> in contact details, which makes it difficult for consumers to submit complaints or request assistance. Additionally, the CPC network has requested further clarification<\/strong> from Shein to verify the platform\u2019s compliance regarding product classifications, reviews, and ratings and how Shein discloses the division of contractual responsibilities between Shein and third-party sellers. EU law requires that consumers are always informed about who the actual seller is and what rights apply.<\/p>\n

The CPC’s action, which complements the initiatives already undertaken by individual national authorities — including the Autorit\u00e0\u00a0Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato <\/strong>(AGCM) in Italy — ties in with the investigation currently being conducted by the Commission under the Digital Services Act <\/strong>(DSA), which imposes on large platforms, such as Shein, designated<\/a>\u00a0as a\u00a0VLOP <\/strong>(Very large online platform) since April\u00a026, 2024, enhanced obligations to manage systemic risks, including those related to consumer protection.<\/p>\n

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Henna Virkkunen, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for Technological Sovereignty<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n

Henna Virkkunen<\/strong>, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for Technological Sovereignty, commented on the outcome of the investigation, saying that it “demonstrates our determination to provide an effective and coordinated response<\/strong> when online platforms and retailers do not play by the rules.” Michael McGrath<\/strong>, Commissioner for Democracy, Justice, Rule of Law and Consumer Protection, reiterated the Union’s message: “All companies that target consumers in the EU must abide by our rules. EU consumer protection laws are not optional<\/strong>: they must be applied in all cases”.<\/p>\n

Should Shein fail to respond satisfactorily to the complaints, national authorities may take enforcement measures<\/strong>, including economic fines\u00a0proportionate to the company’s turnover in the respective Member States.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Chinese online sales platform will have one month to propose corrective measures, otherwise it risks economic fines. EU executive vice-president Virkkunen: ‘Determined to enforce the rules’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7883,"featured_media":427818,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25710],"tags":[25982,27380,27023,26884,27715,27716,31325],"class_list":["post-427849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-net-tech-en","tag-consumers-en","tag-digital-service-act-en","tag-e-commerce-en","tag-commissione-ue-en","tag-directive-commerce-online-en","tag-shein-en","tag-shopping-online-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7883"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=427849"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427849\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":427871,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427849\/revisions\/427871"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/427818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=427849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=427849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=427849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}