Chinese-founded online retailer SHEIN was added by the European Union on Friday to its list of digital businesses that are big enough to face more stringent safety regulations.
The business is one of 23 “very large online platforms” that together have over 45 million monthly active users in the European Union, together with Facebook, TikTok, X, and YouTube.
SHEIN will have to follow the stricter guidelines outlined in the Digital Services Act (DSA), one of the historic new legislation passed by the EU that targets online platforms, starting at the end of August, four months after SHEIN was designated.
“Protecting consumers from purchasing unsafe or illegal goods, with particular focus on preventing the sale and distribution of products that could be harmful to minors” is one of these, according to the European Commission. SHEIN claims to have 108 million active monthly users across the 27 EU member states.
Reacting to the announcement, SHEIN said it would comply with the rules. “We share the commission’s ambition to ensure consumers in the EU can shop online with peace of mind, and we are committed to playing our part,” said Leonard Lin, global head of public affairs at SHEIN.
