Spying on Ikea France: The director’s fined Swatch grows and has sold more than a million “Moonswatches”.

In the appeal procedure for spying on staff and customers at Ikea France, the sentence for a company director has been slightly reduced. The former director was given only four months of probation and a fine of 20,000 euros, various media reported unanimously on Friday. In the first instance, the sentence was two years suspended and 50,000 euros.

Ikea France was sentenced at first instance in 2021 to a fine of one million euros. The court found the French subsidiary of the Swedish furniture giant guilty of regularly collecting personal data through fraudulent or unlawful means. The company did not appeal.

hired security company

The French investigative newspaper “Canard Enchaîné” reported in 2012 on systematic surveillance. In 2003, the security department of the French Ikea subsidiary commissioned a private security company to provide the company with some confidential information about employees and applicants, such as information about possible criminal records or bank statements. Similar information would have been requested from customers who had a legal dispute with Ikea. The FO trade union subsequently filed a complaint against unknown persons for the unlawful use of personal data.

The Swedish group had distanced itself from the practices accused in France. Ikea France said a few weeks after the allegations became known that an internal investigation had found that the measures “did not respect the company’s values ​​and ethics”. Internal reforms must follow.

According to AFP, the espionage system would have expanded throughout the territory of France. The external security company is said to have received between 30,000 and 600,000 euros per year from Ikea France. Although the system goes back further, the defendants only have to answer for the years 2009 to 2012. (zag/sda/awp/dpa)