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Amazon Moves to Close French Website for Five Days After Court Decision on Trade Limitations

The American company has been required by a French court to limit its deliveries in France to essential goods such as food and medical supplies amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Sputnik

Amazon has announced a five-day temporary closure of its French websites following a court ruling to limit trade to food, medical supplies, and other essentials over the US firm's failure to ensure the safety of deliveries.

The company announced earlier on Wednesday it was planning to appeal a French court ruling limiting its deliveries to essential goods as the company is assessing its facilities for coronavirus risks.

"We're puzzled by the court ruling given the hard evidence brought forward regarding security measures put in place to protect our employees. We're assessing the consequences of this decision and our options and we think we will appeal", the US online retailer said in a statement.

On Tuesday, a French court issued a ruling in which Amazon's trade was ordered to be limited to food, medical supplies, and other essential goods only. According to the ruling, seen by Reuters, the company had failed to perform a thorough assessment of the contagion risk of employees passing packages to each other.

Amazon is now required to change its protocols and work with employee representatives to carry out such assessments.

Soon after the ruling was issued, the corporation said that it disagreed with it and pointed out that it was adhering to the health guidelines.

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