
French court upholds order limiting Amazon deliveries amid coronavirus risk - Quanttek
https://www.politico.eu/article/french-court-upholds-order-limiting-amazon-deliveries-amid-coronavirus-risk/
======
jefftk
_> the court of appeal extended the list of allowed items to include, among
other things, high tech and IT goods. The court also significantly reduced the
fines in case of non compliance from €1 million to €100,000 per unauthorized
item "received, prepared and/or shipped."_

That still sounds high enough and vague enough that I expect Amazon will keep
their French distribution centers closed for now.

~~~
alibert
They extended the closure until Tuesday.

But I believe the general public doesn't really notice it because orders are
still being taken and delivered via, I suppose, distribution centers outside
France.

Friend ordered multiple things last Saturday (supposed to be closed) and he
received some packages the next Thursday and today too (Saturday).

~~~
downerending
It seems rather odd that the order would not apply to things delivered from
outside the country.

Is this a general way to avoid regulations? (i.e., France only receives from
Netherlands, and Netherlands only receives from France)

~~~
touktouk
How is that odd? The issue was the safety of its French employees, and
therefore the order from the French court relates to the Amazon facilities in
France.

~~~
downerending
It seems odd because of the moral hazard. Basically, the court is saying,
"Treat your employees as you will, just make sure they're not French.".

Is this really any less of a problem if French deliveries are packed by abused
Belgian peons?

~~~
touktouk
No, but unless the French decide that they can force others countries to
follow their laws, the only choice is between [French protection laws applied
in France; French protection laws not applied abroad] and [French protection
laws not applied in France; French protection laws not applied abroad].

------
Pick-A-Hill2019
Seems fair enough - the courts are saying that Amazon has to restrict
deliveries (in France) to essential items such as food and medical supplies
until a risk assessment has been done on they way the are running things at
the moment. To me that doesn’t seem to me to be overly burdensome. Perhaps the
stumbling block is finding someone willing to be the one signing off on it.

------
hedora
Is equal protection under the law a thing in France?

If so, they presumably need to apply the same standards to all warehouses and
distributors, right?

~~~
Y-bar
As mentioned elsewhere in this discussion: 42 companies have received
injunctions.

------
user5994461
The linked document from the court clarifies exactly which categories are
opened for sale.

It's a list of 7 exact Amazon categories. Like they appear in the search bar
and the left sidebar that you use to filter items. There is really no doubt
possible about what's allowed.

~~~
techslave
sounds like there is still extreme room for question. like how 3p sellers are
now putting electronics like flash drives into the kitchen item categories?

~~~
lsaferite
It was items in those categories as of a specific date.

------
DelightOne
How do other deliverers handle this?

~~~
diih0auV
Note that what courts are blaming Amazon for is not to deliver unnecessary
goods, but to not care enough for the security of their employees in their
warehouses.

So basically, it's not a problem for other delivery services who took stricter
safety measures.

If anything, telling them they can still continue deliver necessary goods is a
bit lax, because their employees are not safer processing those.

The Amazon answer is quite unbearable, to be honest. Basically, it's "people
can't live without us, so we should be above the law". It's time to show them
we can live without them.

~~~
js4ever
Do you have any evidences about other delivery services taking stricter safety
measures?

~~~
diih0auV
This is the responsibility of the DIRECCTE, which handle inspections.

They've been asked by the ministry of work to intensify their inspections
during the covid-19 crisis, and they've notified 42 companies they should put
themselves in conformity (this is the first step before any legal action to
give companies an opportunity to avoid problems, which Amazon ignored).

So all the other companies who did not got problems during their inspection
had better safety measures than amazon.

Source [fr] : [http://idf.direccte.gouv.fr/Inspection-du-travail-
elargissem...](http://idf.direccte.gouv.fr/Inspection-du-travail-
elargissement-des-controles-sur-site-tout-en-priorisant)

Translated:
[https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%...](https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fidf.direccte.gouv.fr%2FInspection-
du-travail-elargissement-des-controles-sur-site-tout-en-priorisant)

