online shopping is a reflex of many French to this Christmas 2018, a trend accentuated by the movement of the “yellow vests”. In this context, the government “calls for the greatest vigilance” with respect to “the security and compliance of the products” purchased on the internet. Recently, an investigation was initiated by the ministry of economy to monitor the merchandise sold to the French on the digital platforms.
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In 2017, $ 37.5 million French people have made purchases online. The turnover of online sales has almost tripled in 7 years, from 30 billion euros in nearly 82 billion from 2010 to 2017, according to the annual report of the Fevad (Federation E-commerce and distance selling). Enormous figures that demonstrate the need for controls demanding concerning the quality and the conformity of the products so purchased.
Under the leadership of the secretary of State in charge of Digital, Mounir Mahjoubi, the DGCCRF (Directorate general for competition, consumption and fraud repression) has completed a first phase of inquiry on “costume jewelry, electric garlands and toys” that can be ordered online, says a press release of the ministry of economy. Result, “three-quarters of the products tested were non-compliant” and “39% were found to be a danger.” In other words, “differences are aesthetic, an incomplete delivery, a different set of features, a non-functioning…” to see unsafe, in particular for the most vulnerable, have been found.
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What are the solutions?
“What you put in your kids’ hands may prove to be a ticking time bomb,” commented Mounir Mahjoubi in the press release. What solutions are possible? “It is not a question of discriminating against the online purchase or blame our fellow citizens,” says the secretary of State who wants to “sort it out between different platforms and vendors”. According to him, some signs do not deceive: “a price excessively attractive should be seen as a warning signal” he explains. However, the fact that “anyone” can “sell on the internet” would make the work of monitoring upstream “very difficult”. “It is necessary therefore that the consumers are also very careful about their purchases” warning Mounir Mahjoubi. As well, many Internet sites would be regularly contacted to “withdraw (…) advertisements of dangerous products” or that they remind us of the “product (defective) already sold”. At the same time, 8.4 million of counterfeit goods “were seized in 2018” he recalls. An observation which led the government to promote an “e-commerce manager”, which “enhances” the producers of the european Union and of the “quality products”, concluded he.
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