Motion for a resolution - B10-0496/2025Motion for a resolution
B10-0496/2025
European Parliament

MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION on protecting EU consumers against the practices of certain e-commerce platforms: the case of child-like sex dolls, weapons and other illegal products and material

21.11.2025 - (2025/2971(RSP))

to wind up the debate on the statements by the Council and the Commission
pursuant to Rule 136(2) of the Rules of Procedure

Leila Chaibi
on behalf of The Left Group

Procedure : 2025/2971(RSP)
Document stages in plenary
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B10-0496/2025
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B10-0496/2025
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B10‑0496/2025

European Parliament resolution on protecting EU consumers against the practices of certain e-commerce platforms: the case of child-like sex dolls, weapons and other illegal products and material

(2025/2971(RSP))

The European Parliament,

– having regard to Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 October 2022 on a Single Market for Digital Services and amending Directive 2000/31/EC (Digital Services Act)[1],

– having regard to Regulation (EU) 2024/3015 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 November 2024 on prohibiting products made with forced labour on the Union market and amending Directive (EU) 2019/1937[2],

– having regard to Directive (EU) 2024/1760 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 June 2024 on corporate sustainability due diligence and amending Directive (EU) 2019/1937 and Regulation (EU) 2023/2859[3] (Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive),

– having regard to its position of 13 March 2024 on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing the Union Customs Code and the European Union Customs Authority, and repealing Regulation (EU) No 952/2013[4],

– having regard to its resolution of 9 July 2025 on product safety and regulatory compliance in e-commerce and non-EU imports[5],

– having regard to Rule 136(2) of its Rules of Procedure,

A. whereas over 75 % of EU consumers shop online;

B. whereas one of the primary concerns in EU e-commerce is the increasing volume of unsafe and illegal products and material;

C. whereas customs and market surveillance authorities are struggling to cope with the overwhelming volume of small shipments, and the ability of the authorities to effectively regulate online sales is hindered by inconsistencies in resources, data sharing and technology;

D. whereas e-commerce has transformed how consumers purchase from and engage with businesses worldwide, presenting significant challenges to the EU and raising concerns over threats to consumer rights, health and safety, and now also over the promotion of child sexual abuse;

E. whereas the French Directorate General for Competition Policy, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control found, on 31 October 2025, that the e-commerce site Shein was marketing child-like sex dolls;

F. whereas the description and categorisation of the dolls on the site make it difficult to doubt that the intention was to promote child sexual abuse;

G. whereas the French authorities launched an investigation after the Directorate General found child-like sex dolls and weapons for sale on the marketplaces of Shein and AliExpress;

H. whereas the Swedish Government summoned Amazon and other e-commerce platforms to a meeting after child rights organisation ChildX filed a police report over the sale of child-like sex dolls on those websites;

I. whereas the French authorities launched a separate investigation into Shein, AliExpress, Temu and Wish for selling pornographic products without age filtering; whereas press reports indicate that these products were also available, without age checks, on Amazon, eBay and Rakuten;

J. whereas the French authorities launched suspension proceedings against Shein; whereas the proceedings were halted after Shein withdrew all illicit products from its platforms and suspended its marketplace;

K. whereas Shein senior executives refused to appear before the fact-finding mission of the French National Assembly on controls on products imported into France;

L. whereas 4.6 billion items under the EUR 150 exemption threshold were sold online and imported into the EU in 2024, 91 % of which originated in China;

M. whereas consumer protection organisations showed that 70 % of the products they purchased from Shein and Temu for testing do not meet the standards in force in the EU, particularly in the categories of toys, electronic products and jewellery;

1. Condemns in the strongest possible terms the sale of child-like sex dolls, weapons and other illegal products and material on e-commerce platforms such as Shein, Temu, AliExpress, Wish, and Amazon, notably on their marketplaces;

2. Condemns Shein’s refusal to appear before a fact-finding mission of a national parliament;

3. Considers it essential that the senior executives of the platforms concerned be summoned to appear before its Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection;

4. Calls on the Commission to use all tools provided for in the Digital Services Act to hold the platforms concerned to account; strongly regrets, given the urgency, the length and complexity of the procedures set out in Article 51 of the Digital Services Act, particularly with regard to suspending these platforms in the EU; calls on the Commission to accelerate these procedures as much as possible;

5. Commends the work of the Consumer Protection Cooperation Network; calls on the Commission to review the Consumer Protection Cooperation Regulation[6] to strengthen the cross-border enforcement of EU consumer law;

6. Stresses the ongoing interinstitutional negotiations between Parliament and the Council on the reform of the Union Customs Code[7] (UCC); calls for these negotiations to clarify and increase platforms’ liability for products sold on their marketplaces by defending, with the utmost commitment, Parliament’s position on the UCC reform regarding the ‘deemed importer’ concept;

7. Calls for the immediate suspension across the EU of the marketplaces of the platforms concerned until such clarification has been achieved;

8. Considers more broadly that e-commerce has an important social aspect; stresses that social crises and inflation have hit EU consumers hard, reducing their buying power; underlines that higher buying power, achieved in particular through fair and higher wages, will encourage consumers to switch from buying cheaper, unsafe and illegal products to buying better quality and legally compliant products;

9. Highlights the Commission’s proposal to introduce a handling fee on parcels worth less than EUR 150 that are imported into the EU and the recent agreement by the EU finance ministers to end tax exemption on those parcels; calls on the Commission to explain how it will ensure that this handling fee will be met by the online retailers or e-commerce platforms and not passed on to consumers;

10. Calls on the Member States and the Commission to ensure that the new resources generated by this handling fee will support the work of authorities responsible for market surveillance, customs, consumer protection and digital services, so that they can better cope with the challenges related to illegal products and material while not putting their agents under undue pressure and while respecting labour rights;

11. Notes the calls for non-EU traders to establish warehouses in the EU to increase the oversight of customs and market surveillance authorities and improve their controls on and detection of illegal products and material;

12. Stresses, however, that working conditions in warehousing and delivery are deteriorating, leading to massive staff turnover despite the increasing demand for labour in the sector; stresses the significant challenges to workers’ rights faced by logistics workers, including unregulated subcontracting, precarious and atypical working arrangements, discrimination and barriers faced by migrant workers, violations of remuneration agreements, and non-compliance with working time regulations and with occupational health and safety standards; underlines the importance of addressing these challenges in order to effectively protect EU consumers against illegal products and material;

13. Strongly condemns the ongoing gutting of the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive; considers that this approach sends a disastrous message to multinational companies and will ultimately facilitate the introduction of illegal and dangerous products into the EU through e-commerce platforms;

14. Highlights the use of manipulative practices by some e-commerce platforms to sell illegal products and material; calls on the Commission to present an ambitious digital fairness act which effectively closes legal loopholes on dark patterns, addictive design, including algorithmic recommender systems that prioritise user engagement, and unfair influencer marketing;

15. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission and to the senior executives of Shein, Temu, AliExpress, Wish, Amazon and all other platforms concerned,

 

Last updated: 24 November 2025
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