China News Agency, Brussels, July 31 (Reporter De Yongjian) For violating EU data protection regulations, the US e-commerce giant Amazon was heavily fined 746 million euros by the Luxembourg authorities responsible for overseeing Amazon's data protection.

  According to Amazon’s regulatory filing documents published on July 30, on July 16, the Luxembourg National Data Protection Commission ruled that Amazon was inadequate in protecting its user data and violated the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), thereby imposing 7.46 on Amazon. A fine of 100 million euros.

  In May 2018, the EU General Data Protection Regulation, regarded as the "world's most stringent", came into effect.

The regulations stipulate that if the protection of user data is unfavorable, the lighter can be fined 10 million euros or 2% of the previous year's global operating income, and the severer can be fined 20 million euros or 4% of the previous year's global operating income (fine The amount is "the larger of the two values"), obviously targeting the Internet giants.

  Amazon was fined 746 million euros this time, which is the heaviest ticket issued by the European Union to companies that violate the General Data Protection Regulation. Since Amazon has its European headquarters in Luxembourg, the Luxembourg authorities are currently responsible for overseeing Amazon’s sales in the EU market. Data protection matters.

  In addition to the fine of 746 million euros, the regulatory filing documents show that the Luxembourg National Data Protection Commission also required Amazon to "rectify", but did not disclose more details.

Amazon stated in the document that the conclusion of the Luxembourg National Data Protection Commission was "unfounded" and that Amazon would fully defend itself.

  Previously, the Luxembourg National Data Protection Commission cited Luxembourg law and has always refused to comment on the Amazon case, and even refused to confirm whether it has received a complaint against Amazon. However, many media confirmed that the Amazon case originated in 2018 and was initiated by a French digital rights advocacy organization. Related litigation.

  In addition, in November last year, the European Union issued a preliminary conclusion that Amazon violated EU antitrust laws and used seller data to profit from its own business, that is, Amazon’s prolonged self-operating business "follow-sell" problem; the EU investigation found that Amazon's data processing The system analyzes massive seller data to help Amazon's self-operated business "follow-sell" the best-selling products on the platform, or optimize product pricing based on seller data.

  At that time, the European Union stated that Amazon used seller data to circumvent normal market competition risks and consolidate its position as the "largest online sales platform" in France, Germany and other countries. However, this action violated EU antitrust laws and distorted competition in the EU online retail market; Amazon ultimately cannot reverse this conclusion and will be punished by the European Union again.

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