Véronique Louwagie, the French Minister of Commerce, highlighted the urgency of granting the EC the authority to remove non-compliant platforms from listings, as per a letter obtained by AFP, corroborating reports from Figaro, reported ENR.
In her correspondence with Commissioner for Justice Michael McGrath, Louwagie emphasised that "the competent national authorities" should have the capacity to enforce "access restriction measures" against these platforms when they violate regulations.
As a result, search engines like Google would no longer display results for delisted companies.
Louwagie also acknowledged ongoing European investigations into platforms such as Temu and AliExpress and noted the examination of discount fashion retailer Shein's practices.
Earlier this year, Shein was fined €40m ($47m) by France's antitrust authority due to deceptive business practices.
Shein, headquartered in Singapore, was previously warned of incurring potential fines if it fails to address EU consumer law violations identified during an extensive investigation.
In a press conference on 21 May, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Mao Ning called for equitable treatment of its businesses in light of proposed EU levies on direct-to-consumer shipments.
Separately, an independent French regulatory body has levied a fine of €150m against Infinite Styles Services Co, the Irish subsidiary of Shein group.
This penalty was issued due to non-compliance with regulations governing cookies on user devices visiting the "shein.com" website.
The Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL) said the unit “failed to comply with its obligations regarding cookies (Article 82 of the French Data Protection Act)”.
CNIL further added that “the company failed to comply with several obligations by placing some cookies without the consent of internet users, by not respecting their choices and by not informing them properly”.
The government authority also reported that on average, 12 million residents of France visit the "shein.com" website monthly.
Neither Shein nor Temu returned requests for comment when approached by Just Style.
