Amazon’s €746 million GDPR fine in Luxembourg is no longer a final, enforceable penalty. On 12 March 2026, Luxembourg’s Administrative Court annulled the regulator’s 2021 decision because the regulator had not assessed whether Amazon acted intentionally or negligently, as later EU case law requires. The court nevertheless confirmed the essence of the GDPR violations. Luxembourg’s data-protection authority must reassess the penalty.
Why did Luxembourg fine Amazon €746 million?
On 15 July 2021, Luxembourg’s National Commission for Data Protection (CNPD) fined Amazon Europe Core S.à r.l. €746 million over personal-data processing for interest-based online advertising. The dispute concerned the legal basis for using personal data in behavioral advertising, the information given to people, and related rights under the GDPR.
The CNPD’s decision required corrective measures and threatened an additional penalty of €746,000 per day if Amazon did not comply with those measures. That daily amount was a threatened penalty tied to compliance—not an extra amount automatically added to the original fine. When the CNPD publicly confirmed its decision in August 2021, it cited professional secrecy and did not discuss the individual case in detail.
What did the courts decide?
| Date and body | Decision | What it meant for the case |
|---|---|---|
| 15 July 2021 — Luxembourg CNPD | Imposed a €746 million fine and corrective measures, with a threatened €746,000 daily penalty for non-compliance. | The original administrative decision. The CNPD’s August 2021 public confirmation did not provide further case-specific detail. |
| 18 March 2025 — Luxembourg Administrative Tribunal | Rejected Amazon’s appeal and upheld the CNPD decision. | The tribunal described failures involving lawful basis, transparency and information duties, access, rectification, erasure, and objection rights under GDPR Articles 6, 12–17, and 21. |
| 12 March 2026 — Luxembourg Administrative Court | Annulled the CNPD decision because the regulator had not assessed intentional or negligent conduct as required by later Court of Justice of the European Union case law. | The court confirmed the essence of the GDPR violations but required the CNPD to reassess the financial penalty. Amazon had complied with the disputed corrective requirements by the hearing, so the injunction and daily-penalty questions were moot. |
The 2026 ruling also narrowed what can be said about particular findings: the court excluded an independent GDPR Article 21 violation because that issue was outside the investigation’s scope, and it said some elements had not been verified. The Luxembourg Ministry of Justice’s 13 March 2026 release said the decision was annulled under all its headings while the essence of the violations was confirmed and those violations were resolved. The CNPD’s response the same day likewise said that the court confirmed, among other things, that legitimate interests did not justify the processing and that the information procedures were non-compliant at the time.
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Was Amazon’s €746 million fine overturned?
Yes: the Administrative Court annulled the 2021 CNPD decision, so the €746 million figure is not currently a final, enforceable fine under that decision. But the ruling was not a clean finding that Amazon’s advertising practices complied with the GDPR. The court confirmed the essence of the violations and sent the penalty issue back for a new analysis.
The reason for annulment was the penalty analysis. Later CJEU case law required the regulator to consider whether the company acted intentionally or negligently, and the court held that the CNPD had not done so. The ruling therefore changed the procedural and financial status of the decision without erasing the core compliance findings.
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Will Amazon still have to pay €746 million?
That amount is not settled. The CNPD must reassess any financial penalty using the required fault analysis; the available ruling and regulator response do not establish what amount, if any, will result. Further legal proceedings could also affect the outcome. The €746 million figure should therefore be understood as the original 2021 fine, not as a payment Amazon is presently required to make under the annulled decision.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What has changed operationally?
By the time of the 2026 hearing, Amazon had complied with the disputed corrective requirements, according to the Administrative Court and the CNPD’s account. As a result, the court treated the injunction and threatened daily penalty as moot. That operational compliance is separate from the CNPD’s remaining task of reassessing a financial penalty for the past conduct.
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