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 French firm Poly Implant Prothese (PIP) conformed to safety rules -- even though they were subsequently found to contain substandard, industrial-grade silicone gel.
The scandal first emerged in 2010 after doctors noticed abnormally high rupture rates in PIP implants and gathered steam worldwide in 2011, with some 3,00,000 women in 65 countries believed to have received the faulty implants.
Nearly 1,700 women who were fitted with the implants -- most of them from South America but also from France and Britain -- also asked the German firm for 16,000 euros each, taking the total claims against TUV to 53 million euros.
The court ordered the German firm to compensate "the damage (done to) importers and victims", telling TUV to give them 3,000 euros each while waiting for individual medical or financial assessments to be conducted on each plaintiff.
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More than 16,000 women have had the implants removed since the scandal came to light, but health officials in various countries estimate they are not toxic and are not thought to increase the risk of breast cancer.
Civil proceedings against TUV took place in March, and came on top of a high-profile criminal court case in April and May in the nearby city of Marseille against PIP founder Jean-Claude Mas and four other executives.
All five are charged with aggravated fraud and a ruling on that case is expected on December 10.
But lawyers for TUV retorted that it was never the German firm's job to check the actual implants, and their task was only to inspect the manufacturing process.
Cecile Derycke, who was defending TUV, said the company was "shocked by the judgment" and had decided to appeal.
"TUV had strictly conformed to the regulations in force," she said.