Good news for Amazon, the e-commerce platform will not have to pay part of the fine imposed by the Luxembourg National Commission for Data Protection (CNPD). The administrative court of the Grand Duchy has suspended on December 16, the payment of one of the two components of the financial sanctions imposed by the CNPD for non-compliance with the GDPR on the American company.
A condemnation unmatched in the short history of the GDPR
Amazon will not have to pay 746,000 euros in fines daily from January 15 as initially condemned by the CNPD.
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Let’s recap: in July, Amazon was ordered to pay the record sum of 746 million euros for non-compliance with the GDPR. This is the most high profile part of the decision and for good reason.
The previous highest fine for non-compliance with the GDPR was (only) 50 million euros. A sanction taken in 2019 by the CNIL, in France, against Google. In total the penalties related to the GDPR amount to 303 million euros, half less than the spectacular fine of Amazon.
Less highlighted, the CNPD also called on the company to comply with the GDPR within 6 months. At the end of this period, on January 15, therefore, Amazon was ordered to pay 746,000 euros daily penalty until the time when the company finally fulfills its obligations vis-à-vis the European data regulation.
Amazon won a battle
It is on this last point and this last point only that the administrative tribunal of Luxembourg is pronounced. Amazon’s defense estimated this delay ” unrealistic “. Bloomberg reports that the company’s lawyer, Thomas Berger, said at a hearing in early December that he “ no indication of what to do, so how do we do it? “.
The Luxembourg courts agreed with him, considering that the CNPD’s demands ” had not been formulated in clear, precise and free of uncertainty terms, under conditions which would enable it to meet them within the time limit set “.
A great victory for Amazon as Christmas approaches. What about the main fine, this record in the short history of the GDPR? The American company appealed against the CNPD’s decision, so it was suspended until all possible remedies were exhausted.