France threatens Shein Ban if ‘baby dolls’ reappear

The French Finance Minister threatened on Monday to ban the country from the country if E-Commerce Calmerce starts selling sex dolls, just days before it opens its first butcher shop in Paris.

The warning followed Saturday’s anti-defract unit reporting that the company was selling child-like “dolls”.

The French daily Learisien published a photo of one of the dolls for sale on the platform, accompanied by a protected sexual caption.

It measured about 80 centimeters (30 inches) high and held a teddy bear.

Shortly after the statement of the watchdog of fatchdog, Shein announced that the dolls were removed from their platform and they had launched an internal investigation.

Finance Minister Roland Lescure warned on Monday that he would go and ban the company from the French market if things come back online.

“These horrors are illegal,” he told broadcaster BFMTV, promising a judicial inquiry.

Shein did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The country’s High Commissioner for Childhood, Sarah El Hairy, said several websites were being investigated, after French media reported the shopping platform AliExpress sold similar dolls.

AliExpress said it immediately removed the items from its website.

Activist Arnaud Galgais, who has been written to end child sexual abuse, is accused of continuing to sell damaged dolls on their pages. AFP could not confirm this.

“You just need a VPN and you can send it to France,” said Galgais that such dolls were found in the home of the French pedophile Joel Le Scouarnec.

A French court in May sentenced him to 20 years in prison after admitting to sexually abusing or raping 298 patients while working between 1989 and 2014, in a case that shocked the country.

– ‘Unacceptable’ –

Shein is due on Wednesday to open its first physical store in the world inside the prestigious BHV Marais department store in central Paris, a move that has sparked outrage in France.

Frederic Merlin, director of the company that owns BHV, said selling baby dolls was “unacceptable”, but on Monday defended his decision to allow the department store.

“Only clothes and accessories directly conceived by BHV’s Shein will be sold,” she said.

The Singapore-based company, originally founded in China, has faced criticism over the working conditions in its factories and the environmental impact of its ultra-fast business model.

Other brands have pulled their products from BHV Marais since the announcement.

France has already fined three times by 2025 to receive 191 million euros ($220 million).

Those charges are imposed for failing to comply with online cookie laws, false advertising, misleading information and not declaring the presence of plastic microfibs in its products.

The European Commission is also more cautious about the risks associated with illegal products, and EU lawmakers have agreed to limit the environmental impact of fast fashion.

MPA-CAC / AH /