Amazon's appeal against a €746 million fine for data protection violations has been dismissed by Luxembourg's Administrative Court, which found the company failed to address the breaches.

The Luxembourg Administrative Court has dismissed an appeal by Amazon against a 2021 decision by the National Data Protection Commission (CNPD), which found the online retail giant in violation of data protection regulations and imposed a €746 million penalty.

Amazon had challenged the CNPD's ruling, but the court upheld the decision at first instance. In its judgment, the court concluded that Amazon not only breached data protection laws but also failed to take adequate steps to address the violations in the intervening period.

The company now has the option to appeal the verdict. The €746 million fine will only be enforced once all legal proceedings have been concluded.

In response to the fine imposed on Amazon, the company issued a statement saying:

“We work hard to earn customer trust, and customer privacy is a top priority. We have always been clear with customers and given them control over whether they see personalised advertising based on their interests. We appealed the CNPD’s decision because we strongly disagree with their ruling.

Despite our best efforts to engage constructively on the proper interpretation of new and untested provisions of European privacy law, the CNPD’s decision instead imposed an unprecedented fine based on subjective interpretations of the law about which they had not previously published any interpretive guidance. We are considering an appeal of the decision by the Administrative Court.”