Former European Commissioner would be among Shein's lobbyists

Former European Commissioner Günther Oettinger is among the European lobbyists for Chinese fast fashion specialist Shein, according to the French newspaper The World. Shein has told FashionNetwork.com that it is simply working with Oettinger. More generally, EU transparency records show that Shein is willing to influence around 20 top European politicians, at a time when EU institutions are trying to impose restrictions on the activity of Chinese e-tailers Shein and Temu.

Oettinger is a member of Germany's conservative centre-right CDU party and served as EU Commissioner from 2010 to 2019 in three different areas: energy, digital economy and EU budget. Since 2020, he has submitted no fewer than 13 formal applications to the European Commission to engage in lobbying activities. Oettinger is said to have since joined the consultancy firm Kekst CNC, to which Shein paid almost €200,000 last year, according to transparency records.

This information sheds light on a recent report by Atlantico, which last July reported on a meeting between Shein CEO Donald Tang and representatives of the European Commission, including the Commission's Director General for Communications Networks, Content and Technologies, Roberto Viola. Last year, Shein officials met with German parliamentarian Bernd Lange, chairman of the European Parliament's International Trade Committee.

The news of Oettinger's links to Shein comes at a time when EU authorities are preparing several bills aimed at curbing Shein's business operations in Europe. In particular, the EU wants to remove the tax exemption for packages under 150 euros entering Europe. These are measures that the European textile industry hopes will be adopted quickly, while opinions are divided among European e-commerce players.

In addition, a law banning the entry into the EU of products potentially linked to forced labour will come into force in 2027. Already in 2020, the NGO Public Eye had accused Shein of imposing questionable and unsafe working conditions in production plants.

In just a few years, Shein has established itself as Europe’s second-largest online fashion retailer, according to a survey by Cross-Border Commerce Europe. Last year, it ranked behind German online retailer Zalando, ahead of Lithuanian site Vinted and US sites StockX and Nike.

Shein is now valued at over €60 billion and the EU added the website to the list of large online platforms (VLOPs) in the spring. This designation means that Shein must provide the EU regulator with access to its algorithms. In addition, VLOPs must undergo an independent external audit once a year, at their own expense. The obligation theoretically applies to Shein at the end of August 2024.