French watchdog orders Amazon to pay $3.5 million in penalties

A French watchdog has ordered US e-commerce giant Amazon.com to pay 3.3 million euros ($3.5 million) in penalties for failing to modify contractual provisions related to third-party sellers by the deadline it set, the watchdog said on Wednesday.

France’s DGCCRF consumer fraud watchdog said in a statement that Amazon had been ordered to make the changes, aimed at correcting imbalances in contractual terms between Amazon’s online marketplace and third-party sellers, by March 22.

Amazon had complied with DGCCRF’s orders a month later, on April 28, the watchdog said, which led to penalties equivalent to 90,000 euros per day of delay.