While the European Commission plans to tax up to 2 euros Each “little” package from Chinaonline distribution platforms like Shein have to face a second front. The senators will discuss this Tuesday and this Tuesday before a vote on June 10, The bill carried by deputy Anne-Cécile Violand (horizons), adopted unanimously, more than a year ago, in the National Assembly.
These long months of waiting have strongly drew the ambitions of the initial version. The text provided for financial penalties Depending on the eco-score of a garment or the prohibition of advertising for “ephemeral fashion”, this textile industry which multiplies new features each week.
10 % of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide
Between 2010 and 2023, the number of clothing put on the market in France increased by 39 %, with major environmental impacts. Very polluting, the sector is responsible for almost 10 % of greenhouse gas emissions in the world.
The text presented this Monday went to the sieve of a senatorial commission. It has also been amended by the government, which now wishes to make the difference between fast food and ultrafast-fashion.
A way to distinguish European companies like H&M or Zara, which make in Asia but sell both remotely, by internet, and in stores in Europe, and that purely online as Shein or Temu flooding the European market products sent by packages from China.
Fast Fashion “is not limited to Shein”
“In order for this text to become a missed opportunity, it is not necessary to sanction only companies which put more than 1,000 models per day on the market,” says Charlotte Soulary, head of the argument for Zero Waste France. It takes a penalty for all brands that market more than 5,000 new clothing models per year. »»
Fast-fashion “is not limited to Shein, adds Pierre Condamine, countryside overproduction to friends of the Earth France. It is also and above all signs that sell astronomical quantities of clothing, such as PrimarkKiabi, decathlon or even Action. »
The amount of financial penalties and how to apply them will also be on the menu for the debates of the Senate. While the text approved by the Assembly provided for sanctions based on “Environmental display” From a clothing (a measure of its impact) up to 5 euros per room, brought to 10 euros by 2030, the government now prefers another system to it, proportional to the sale price.
“A law which does not set any penalty or concrete environmental criteria”
“It is not at all a way of lessening the level of penalties,” assures an adviser to the cabinet of the Minister Delegate in charge of Commerce Véronique Louwagie. It is even the opposite since it is a question of giving oneself room for maneuver to take into account the evolution of prices for example or the evolution of l’inflation. We could also develop the penalties rates quickly, since we could act by decree, without going through a modification of the law. »»
The argument coughs the Stop Fast-Fashion coalition in which a dozen environmental NGOs participate: “If this government amendment were to be adopted, there is a risk of making this law an empty shell which does not set any concrete penalty or environmental criteria. The text would even allow the main concerned, Shein and Temu, to escape the sanctions. »»
Environmental associations denounce Intense lobbying operations carried out by Shein France. “These setbacks coincide with a reinforced lobbying of the brand which massively sent to the Senate an impact study denouncing the potential increase in the prices of the most polluting clothes, especially due to high penalties,” denounces the Stop Fast-Fashion coalition.
