A French court has ordered German certification firm TUV Rheinland to pay compensation to hundreds of women who were fitted with defective breast implants.<br /><br />TUV awarded EU safety certificates to the French manufacturer PIP for 17 years. PIP was using sub-standard silicone gel that caused many implants to rupture. <br /><br />1,700 women sued TUV for 50 million euros. A court in Toulon has ruled that the German company must make initial payment of 3,000 euros per victim to have the implants removed.<br /><br />The plaintiffs’ lawyer Laurent Gaudon said of TUV: “This company certified that the implants neither compromised the health nor the safety of patients. They did so without even touching a single implant and without controls or checks. They outsourced the work to an unauthorised firm.”<br /><br />TUV has condemned the ruling. The firm’s lawyer Cécile Derycke said she was “deeply shocked” by it.<br /><br />Derycke told reporters: “It goes against the elements of the dossier, it contradicts the request of the Toulon prosecutor himself, and it goes against what the investigators in Marseille have said, who – after a 2-year investigation – concluded that TUV was a victim of fraud by PIP.”<br /><br />Formerly one of the world’s leading suppliers of breast implants, PIP was shut down in 2010 amid a worldwide health scare over the faulty gel.<br /><br />The firm’s founder Jean-Claude Mas is on trial for aggravated fraud, along with four of his executives. A ruling is expected in December.
