German inspectors told to pay compensation over faulty PIP implants - Telegraph
A French court on Thursday found German safety standards firm TUV liable in a global scare over defective breast implants and ordered the company to compensate distributors and victims.
The court in the southern city of Toulon ruled that TUV Rheinland had "neglected its duties of checking and vigilance" after having certified that implants made by Poly Implant Prothese (PIP) conformed to European safety rules - even though they were subsequently found to have been made of substandard, industrial-grade silicone gel.
Six distributors of the faulty implants from Bulgaria, Brazil, Italy, Syria, Mexico and Romania had sued TUV for a total of €28 million (£23.4 million).
More than 1,600 women who were fitted with the implants - most of them from South America but also from France and Britain - were also asking for €16,000 each, taking the total claims against TUV to €53 million.
The court ordered the German firm to compensate "the damage (done to) importers and victims", telling TUV to give the victims €3,000 each while waiting for individual assessments to be conducted for each woman.
