Tuesday, March 19

Luxembourg Imposes Record Fine on Amazon for Breach of Privacy Law

Technology giant Amazon has been fined EUR 746 million by the Luxembourg privacy watchdog CNPD. This is the highest fine ever in the European Union for a breach of privacy legislation.

 

Amazon made the news public on Friday and said it does not agree with the decision. “There has been no data breach, and no customer data has been exposed to third parties,” the tech giant said, adding it would appeal.

“This decision by the CNPD is based on subjective and unverified interpretations of European data protection law. Therefore, the fine is completely out of proportion.’

Since the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into effect in May 2018, privacy watchdogs in European countries have taken far-reaching measures. For example, they can issue fines of up to 4 percent of a company’s global revenues. The largest fine to date came from Google, which had to pay 50 million in France.

Amazon has its European headquarters in Luxembourg. Therefore, it is the local watchdog that must maintain compliance with the GDPR regulations.

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