Amazon: justice relaxes delivery restrictions

The Versailles Court of Appeal confirmed the need for a risk assessment of covid-19 within Amazon France. However, it has expanded the list of products that the merchant site can continue to deliver.

The Versailles Court of Appeal delivered its judgment in the Amazon case on Friday April 24. It once again agreed with the unions, which called for a real assessment of the risks associated with the Covid-19 epidemic. However, it relaxed the delivery restrictions imposed on the e-merchant, pending this assessment.

The court of appeal thus confirmed the order of April 14 of the court of Nanterre which imposed on Amazon to carry out an assessment of the professional risks related to the epidemic of coronavirus and which simply obliged it to “restrict the activity of these warehouses to the activities of receiving goods, preparing and dispatching orders for food products, hygiene products and medical products”. It also clarified and expanded the list of products that Amazon can continue to deliver. Amazon will have to stick within 48 hours to high-tech products, computers, office and "Everything for animals", health and body care, man, nutrition, drugstore, as well as groceries, drinks and maintenance. After this 48 hour period, each infraction will be penalized up to 100,000 euros for a maximum of one month.

Amazon had appealed Nanterre's initial decision, which it considered impossible to apply due to lack of precision.

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The list fixed by the court of appeal is therefore wider than that fixed by the court of Nanterre. She thus takes away her main argument for the closure of her warehouses decided until Saturday. The e-commerce giant had effectively announced the closure of its French sites from April 16.

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