French court finds German certificator guilty in breast implant scandal
A French court has found a German company guilty of failing to carry out quality control on the fake breast implants sold by French company PIP. It order TUV to pay victims 3,000 euros each as a first payment ahead of tests that could mean further compensation.
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TUV's lawyer Cécile Derycke declared herself "shocked" by Thursday's surprise decision and said that the company would appeal.
The company was not cited in the state's case against PIP and actually declared itself an interested party in the prosecution.
But a civil case was brought by 1,700 women - most of them South American but also French and British - who had bought PIP's faulty implants and by six distribution companies from Bulgaria, Brazil, Italy, Syria, Mexico and Romania.
The court in Toulon, southern France, found that TUV had failed to live up to its "obligations of control and vigilance".
Despite extensive powers, including the right to stage spot inspections, test samples and seize stocks, TUV only looked at the documentation, it found, and PIP was easily able to carry out its gigantic fraud, given that it was forewarned of inspectors' visits.
"TUV strictly followed the reglementation in force," Derycke insisted after the court's judgement.
Three hundred Argentine women have launced a class action in their own country against PIP and TUV.
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