Today, the Toulon Commercial Court handed down decisions against TÜV Rheinland LGA Products GmbH in the scope of cases linked to the PIP breast implants case. The Court ordered payment of provisional amounts to persons claiming to be former foreign distributors of PIP breast implants / foreign clinics / a sales representative of PIP / and plaintiffs who allege having received PIP silicone gel breast implants.

As Maître Cécile Derycke, Counsel for the notified body TÜV Rheinland LGA Products GmbH in these proceedings, stresses: 'These decisions are totally inconsistent with the long series of positions taken by the courts and authorities that examined the PIP case on the merits so far. In particular, the Aix en Provence Court of Appeal handed down on 2 July 2015 a judgment excluding any liability of TÜV Rheinland LGA Products GmbH. With this decision, the Court of Appeal overturned an isolated judgment of the Toulon Commercial Court. However, the Toulon Commercial Court persists in ignoring the very clear elements of this case which establish that the notified body TÜV Rheinland LGA Products GmbH performed its mission as a notified body diligently and in total compliance with the applicable regulations. Besides, in such circumstances, granting provisional amounts and the preliminary enforcement of the judgments are irresponsible and shall be firmly challenged before the Court of Appeal'.

TÜV Rheinland LGA Products GmbH will lodge an appeal against these judgments which reflect a totally isolated position.

TÜV Rheinland LGA Products GmbH is amongst the victims of the fraud committed by PIP's executives and managers, as held by the Marseilles Criminal Court and the Aix-en-Provence Court of Appeal in December 2013 and May 2016.

Reminder of the facts: PIP deliberately manufactured silicone breast implants using - at least at times - a non-declared silicone filling. PIP deceived TÜV Rheinland LGA Products GmbH ('TRLP') and always claimed that it only used the silicone that it declared to TRLP as raw material. PIP provided the auditors and reviewers of TRLP with an extensive documentation (e.g. the design dossier, batch records, manufacturing instructions) regarding the alleged used of the declared silicone. PIP systematically concealed any indications regarding the use of different raw materials.

By means of a large-scale and complex scheme of fraud, PIP deceived all the parties involved - first and foremost patients, but also the health authorities and TRLP. When PIP's fraud became known and the end of March 2010, TRLP suspended its certificates for PIP.

TRLP shares the interest of women with PIP implants in a full investigation of PIP's criminal actions. Consequently, TRLP has also filed a criminal complaint against PIP and its former managers..

TÜV Rheinland Holding AG published this content on 20 January 2017 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein.
Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 20 January 2017 14:59:01 UTC.