Amazon fines 886 million U.S. dollars for data privacy in the EU

New Delhi: The e-commerce giant said on Friday that Amazon was fined 886.6 million U.S. dollars (746 million euros) by the European Union for handling personal data in violation of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

The company disclosed in a regulatory document that the Luxembourg National Data Protection Commission (CNPD) imposed a fine on Amazon Europe Core in its July 16 decision.

Amazon stated in the document: “We believe that the CNPD’s decision is baseless and intend to vigorously defend ourselves in this matter.”

GDPR requires companies to obtain people’s consent before using personal data, otherwise they will face huge fines.

The Wall Street Journal reported in June, citing people familiar with the matter, that the company may be fined more than US$425 million under EU privacy laws.

Earlier this year, Amazon won an order to oppose the EU’s payment of approximately 250 million euros ($303 million) in taxes to Luxembourg, which dampened competition director Margrethe Vestager’s fight against preferential deals . Please also read: LIC credit card launch: pay LIC premium to earn 2 times rewards, welcome bonus, etc.

According to Reuters, the EU judge based in Luxembourg said at the time: “The European Commission did not prove in accordance with the necessary legal standards that the tax burden of a European subsidiary of Amazon Group has been excessively reduced.” Please also read: ATM fees, wages, pensions, EMI payment rules will change in the next two days