A day after the European Union dialled up its scrutiny of fast-fashion big Shein, the bloc’s govt department mentioned that it has despatched a contemporary request for data (RFI) to the e-commerce platform beneath the Digital Providers Act (DSA).
The European Fee oversees bigger platforms’ compliance with a subset of DSA guidelines in areas like algorithmic transparency necessities, together with an obligation to present information entry to researchers to allow them to examine systemic dangers.
On paper, penalties for non-compliance can attain as much as 6% of world annual turnover. Nevertheless, the EU is but to difficulty any DSA fines to any of the so-called very giant on-line platforms (VLOPs) or search engines like google and yahoo (VLOSE) regardless of beginning a variety of investigations and sending a number of requests for data.
The most recent RFI to Shein covers a variety of areas, together with “inside paperwork and extra detailed data on dangers linked to the presence of unlawful content material and items on its market, on the transparency of its recommender techniques, and on the entry to information for certified researchers.”
Per the press launch, the Fee additionally needs extra information from Shein about “measures adopted to mitigate dangers regarding client safety, public well being and customers’ wellbeing”, in addition to particulars on the safety of customers’ private information. Shein has till February 27 to reply to the RFI.
Shein was solely designated a VLOP again in April final yr, however EU lawmakers have expressed concern about dangers stemming from low-cost e-commerce marketplaces — such because the distribution of harmful and/or counterfeit merchandise, or environmental harms from a flood of low-cost, low-quality items.
Competitors issues posed by the inflow of low-quality items into the EU are additionally preoccupying the bloc, and on Wednesday, the Fee unboxed a method concentrating on this sweep of points. Nevertheless, lots of what was offered within the Communication on Protected and Sustainable E-Commerce is pending because it nonetheless must be agreed upon by co-legislators earlier than it may be applied.
Customs reforms is one plank of the technique EU lawmakers are pushing for, however the proposed modifications require Member State buy-in.
In the meantime, Fee officers had been eager to level out that varied current legal guidelines already apply to low-cost e-commerce platforms, from product guidelines to client safety legal guidelines and the bloc’s on-line governance framework.
Within the latter case, implementing related features of the DSA, which embody restrictions on anti-consumer ways like darkish patterns, is squarely within the Fee’s function overseeing VLOPs’ compliance.
In the present day’s announcement of one other RFI on Shein appears supposed to maintain up stress and underscore that the bloc is already taking motion. Fee spokespeople didn’t have interaction with our questions asking why the EU has not additional stepped up enforcement on this space in mild of clear issues expressed yesterday on product security and client safety.
Whereas the EU is but to open formal investigations on Shein (or its low-cost rival Temu) regardless of a number of asks for information, it has (since March final yr) had a DSA probe open on one other market, AliExpress. That probe covers points together with threat mitigation, content material moderation, advert transparency, algorithmic accountability, the traceability of merchants, and information entry for researchers.
Shein didn’t instantly reply to our questions relating to the RFI.
