COVID-19: AMAZON TO BE HEAVILY FINED IF FOUND DELIVERING NON-ESSENTIAL ITEMS?

A French court has upheld an earlier ruling to fine Amazon France €1,000,000 for each day it ships non-essential goods from French warehouses but gone even further saying that they would fine Amazon France €100,000 for every non-essential product shipped from their French warehouses until they carry out a risk assessment of their warehouses, as per Tamebay.

Therefore, Amazon as of now can only ship products related to Tech for IT and Office, Pets, Beauty, Health and Well-being and Food and Drinks in France. 

This led to Amazon France shutting their French warehouses and furloughing their staff and starting to fulfil consumer’s orders from other European Union warehouses.

The new ruling orders Amazon to start their risk assessment all over again so there is no prospect of Amazon France opening up their fulfilment business any time soon, reports the website.

Amazon’s work has been made significantly more challenging by the fact that French Unions are not only requiring physical measures such as sanitation to be in place, but are also demanding mental well being strategies to cater for anyone that says they’re scared of becoming sick or have other worries during the crisis.

Amazon responded to the ruling, saying, “Currently assessing the implications for our sites as well as for our employees and customers in France and also for French small businesses which rely on Amazon for their sales.”