Consumer Protection – Enforcement - Shein
DATE OF UPDATE: 26 May 2025
LINKS: Commission and national authorities urge SHEIN to respect EU consumer protection laws
CURRENT STATUS
The Consumer Protection Cooperation (CPC) Network of national consumer authorities and the European Commission notified Shein of several practices on its platform that infringe EU consumer law. The online marketplace and e-retailer must respond within one month to the CPC Network's findings and propose commitments on how they will address the identified consumer law issues.
WHY IS THIS APPLICABLE TO CLIENTS?
The consumer law obligations that the CPC Network is invoking can be found in the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, the Consumer Rights Directive, the Price Indication Directive, and the e-Commerce Directive, which have been transposed into Irish law.
Intellectual Property Protection and Enforcement
DATE OF UPDATE: 22 May 2025
LINKS: Register of Commission Documents - SWD(2025)131
CURRENT STATUS
The Commission published a Staff Working Document 'Report on the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights in third countries'.
The main objective of the Report is to identify third countries in which the state of IPR protection and enforcement gives rise to the greatest level of concern for the EU. It establishes an updated list of so called "priority countries", which are those where deficiencies are deemed to cause the greatest economic harm to EU interests.
WHY IS THIS APPLICABLE TO CLIENTS?
Among other things, the report aims to inform rightholders about potential risks to their IPR when engaging in business activities in certain third countries and thus to allow them to design business strategies and operations to protect the value of their intangibles.
NEXT STEPS
Review the Report where of relevance to client's business activities.
Consumer Agenda 2025-2030
DATE OF UPDATE: 19 May 2025
IMPLEMENTATION/DEADLINE DATE: The feedback period closes on 11 August 2025.
LINKS: Consumer Agenda 2025-2030 and action plan on consumers in the Single Market
EU Consumer Protection – New Principles for Virtual Currencies in Video Games
EU Digital Fairness Fitness Check Shines Light on Deceptive Pattern s
CURRENT STATUS
The Commissioner for Democracy, Justice, the Rule of Law and Consumer Protection, Michael McGrath, has been tasked to present a Consumer Agenda 2025-2030. This should include an action plan on consumers in the Single Market, to ensure consumers do not face unfair discrimination, keep benefits when crossing borders and are protected when buying goods or services.
A consultation has been launched to gather feedback and input from stakeholders to inform the development of the priority areas and actions.
WHY IS THIS APPLICABLE TO CLIENTS?
The action plan aims to target several gaps in consumer legislation and will be of interest to organisations supplying products and services to consumers, to include online games or other non-intermediated content.
This article contains a general summary of developments and is not a complete or definitive statement of the law. Specific legal advice should be obtained where appropriate.
