France moved to ban Shein over the illicit products on Wednesday, prompting the company to suspend its marketplace in the country as it reviewed how third-party sellers operate on it. It had already halted the sale of all sex dolls worldwide.
"The platform is evidently in breach of European rules," French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said in an interview with radio station Franceinfo.Â
"The European Commission must take action. It cannot wait any longer."
Shein's website in France was still viewable on Thursday. But it showed only its own-brand clothing, for which it is best known, rather than the vast array of toys, homeware and gadgets normally available on its marketplace, which has been a growing source of revenue for the company.
Shein did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on Thursday.
As part of the crackdown on Shein, France's budget and small business ministers visited Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport on Thursday, where millions of packages arrive via air freight. They said they'd blocked 200,000 parcels, which would be examined by customs officials and France's consumer watchdog.
Finance Minister Roland Lescure and Anne le Henanff, France's digital minister, meanwhile wrote to EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen late Wednesday, calling for the European Commission to investigate Shein "without delay".
"France alerts the European Commission and all member states to these serious breaches within its borders, and expects there are similar risks associated with this platform's activities in other European Union countries," they wrote.
A Commission spokesperson said the 27-nation bloc's executive arm was in touch with Shein following the French complaint. Violating EU law could lead to further steps by the Commission, the spokesperson said, but added that the EU did not intend to suspend any platforms EU-wide.
Gunther Oettinger, a former European Commissioner and German state prime minister who advises Shein, said the company should "be as transparent as possible and, if needed, correct course."
"I am sure Shein takes this seriously. You can see they have already delisted the products," he told Reuters.
German retail industry group HDE also called on the German government and EU authorities to take a tougher stance against Shein.
"Violations of laws and regulations must have consequences," HDE's managing director Stefan Genth told Reuters on Thursday.
Germany's state-backed products testing group Stiftung Warentest said last week that 110 out of 162 items it tested from Shein and rival online platform Temu did not meet EU standards, citing unsafe toys and toxic metals in jewellery.
The Commission has powers to investigate large online platforms for breaches of the EU's Digital Services Act, which requires they collect and verify information on third-party sellers and check their marketplaces for non-compliant products.
It can impose fines of up to six per cent of a company's global annual turnover for confirmed breaches.
Shein had global revenues of $US37 billion ($A57 billion) in 2024, according to parent company Roadget Business Pte Ltd's most recent filing in Singapore.
