Record fine for Amazon of 746 million euros

It is not known which violation is the basis of the fine notice. The CNPD is not allowed to comment on this. Also from Amazon as the person responsible, no further statements are known. All that is known so far is that the fine is related to a complaint filed in 2018 by the French civil rights organization “La Quadrature du Net”.

A spokesman for the Amazon company says that there has been no personal data breach. In addition, no data was passed on to third parties. “In terms of how we display relevant advertisements to customers, this decision by the CNPD is based on subjective and unchecked interpretations of European data protection law, and even with this interpretation the intended fine is disproportionate.” Amazon plans to take legal action against the decision.

As early as December 2020, the French supervisory authority CNIL imposed a fine of 35 million euros on Amazon Europe Core for violating French data protection law. The French supervisory authority CNIL criticized the use of cookies for advertising purposes without the consent of the data subject. In addition, the information requirements were not sufficiently fulfilled.

The fine of 746 million euros is the highest so far that has been imposed since the GDPR came into force. Previously, the French supervisory authority CNIL imposed an equally considerable fine on Google in the amount of 50 million euros. The fine of 35 million euros imposed on the fashion chain H&M in September 2020 for violating employee data protection was already a sensation. When and in what amount a fine can be imposed is determined by Art. 83 GDPR. Among other things, the global annual turnover of the company is decisive for the amount of the fine. Depending on the violation, fines of up to 2% or up to 4% of the annual turnover can be imposed.

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