French appeals court upholds most health restrictions on Amazon
An appeals court on Friday upheld most of the restrictions placed on Amazon’s French warehouses after a union brought the company to court over its coronavirus precautions.
The US-based internet retail giant halted all operations at its warehouses last week, although it appealed the April 14 ruling that it had not paid proper heed to health and safety requirements.
The Versailles Court of Appeal upheld the lower court’s ruling that Amazon must carry out a risk assessment at all its warehouses and implement all necessary health and safety measures in conjunction with staff representatives.
It adjusted the restrictions imposed by the lower court, which had said that only orders for food, hygiene and medical goods could be prepared and despatched from the warehouses until then.
Amazon had complained that it could not reasonably be sure it was complying with those categories, which came with a 1-million-euro (1.08-million-dollar) fine per day for every violation.
The appeals court instead imposed restrictions based on the categories in Amazon’s own catalogue as of April 21.
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The company will be allowed send out products it has categorized as high-tech, computer and office goods; pet care; health and body care; “for men;” nutrition; over-the-counter medicines; groceries; drinks; and household upkeep products.
The appeals court also reduced the daily fine per violation of the order to 100,000 euros, and gave Amazon 48 hours to comply with the new restrictions.
Amazon said it would evaluate the implications of the appeal ruling as quickly as possible. (dpa)
