7 ms·

amazon doesn't have european headquarters

by buboard 8y ago

gnulinux 8y ago
This is irrelevant as long as they have customers whose rights are protected by GDPR.
- buboard 8y ago
  i am mistaken. But the idea is , if they were not based in europe , which country's DPA is going to go after them? Where will the money be paid?
  - jlawer 8y ago
    But they have european entities (AWS, fulfilment centres, etc). If they don't choose to put themselves somewhere, everyone may go after them separately.
    - buboard 8y ago
      ... and then they can negotiate with the country that gives them the smallest punishment. (under gdpr only one will go after them at a time).
      - wavefunction 8y ago
        Negotiating with every country in the EU serially is not that much better than in parallel.
  - cyphar 8y ago
    Likely Luxembourg, where they are headquartered. Unfortunately (as we found in the DieselGate scandal -- where car companies directly caused thousands of deaths), Luxembourg doesn't have very strong regulatory teeth. Here's hoping they're more strict.
    - pluma 8y ago
      Not really? Any EU customer could report them to their own DPA who would have to investigate the issue and resolve it. There's no reason any DPA in Luxembourg would have to be involved the way I understand it (except for customers in Luxembourg of course).
athrun 8y ago
Of course they do. Their EU HQ is in Luxembourg.
cyphar 8y ago
They do, so they can avoid taxes all over the world. Not only do they have an EU incorporated company, if you believe their tax filings their primary business is based in Luxembourg. This is obviously bullshit, and is done to avoid taxes, but they have structured their company in a way that makes them very much an EU company. If they weren't an EU company they couldn't take advantage of Luxembourg's tax laws. So it follows that they have to follow all EU laws. Because they're incorporated in the EU.
- buboard 8y ago
  you re right. The idea here is that luxembourg (or any country) would have to weigh any violations against their interests to keep amazon in their territory.

amazon doesn't have european headquarters

gnulinux 8y ago

This is irrelevant as long as they have customers whose rights are protected by GDPR.

buboard 8y ago
i am mistaken. But the idea is , if they were not based in europe , which country's DPA is going to go after them? Where will the money be paid?
- jlawer 8y ago
  But they have european entities (AWS, fulfilment centres, etc). If they don't choose to put themselves somewhere, everyone may go after them separately.
  - buboard 8y ago
    ... and then they can negotiate with the country that gives them the smallest punishment. (under gdpr only one will go after them at a time).
    - wavefunction 8y ago
      Negotiating with every country in the EU serially is not that much better than in parallel.
- cyphar 8y ago
  Likely Luxembourg, where they are headquartered. Unfortunately (as we found in the DieselGate scandal -- where car companies directly caused thousands of deaths), Luxembourg doesn't have very strong regulatory teeth. Here's hoping they're more strict.
  - pluma 8y ago
    Not really? Any EU customer could report them to their own DPA who would have to investigate the issue and resolve it. There's no reason any DPA in Luxembourg would have to be involved the way I understand it (except for customers in Luxembourg of course).

athrun 8y ago

Of course they do. Their EU HQ is in Luxembourg.

cyphar 8y ago

They do, so they can avoid taxes all over the world. Not only do they have an EU incorporated company, if you believe their tax filings their primary business is based in Luxembourg. This is obviously bullshit, and is done to avoid taxes, but they have structured their company in a way that makes them very much an EU company. If they weren't an EU company they couldn't take advantage of Luxembourg's tax laws. So it follows that they have to follow all EU laws. Because they're incorporated in the EU.

buboard 8y ago
you re right. The idea here is that luxembourg (or any country) would have to weigh any violations against their interests to keep amazon in their territory.