Shein says EU fees, French penalties would increase prices in France

PARIS (Reuters) -French consumers will pay more for their purchases from low-cost online platform Shein if a European Union proposal for a handling fee moves ahead and a French bill placing penalties on fast-fashion products is approved, the company said on Thursday.

The remarks from Quentin Ruffat, a Shein spokesperson in France, in an interview with Sud Radio were Shein's first public reaction to the EU plan, which would levy a 2-euro ($2.26) handling fee on e-commerce packages entering the 27-nation bloc.

"Why tax us? Why not have a discussion, find a solution between public officials and e-commerce platforms?" he told the French radio station.

The proposed EU fee is generally viewed as another setback for platforms like Shein and rival Temu, which have grown rapidly worldwide by shipping inexpensive products directly to consumers and leveraging customs exclusions for low-value goods.

The 2-euro fee would apply to packages delivered directly to customers, with a smaller 50-cent fee imposed on parcels handled by a warehouse in the EU.

Ruffat also pointed to a bill, approved in France's lower house of parliament in March, that seeks penalties on fast-fashion products in a bid to offset their environmental impact.

"Between the (French) bill ... which mainly targets Shein, and the announcement yesterday by the European Union, the French could pay 12 euros more for their Shein clothing by 2030," Ruffat said.

EU member governments and the European Parliament would need to approve the handling fees. But France, a powerful country in the bloc, has already endorsed such a measure.

The European Commission said in February it would remove duty-free treatment of e-commerce packages worth no more than 150 euros starting in 2028.

Earlier this month the United States scrapped its "de minimis" policy allowing duty-free entry to packages worth less than $800.

($1 = 0.8844 euros)

(Reporting by Makini Brice; Additional reporting by Helen Reid in London; Editing by Joe Bavier)

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