Amazon Settled EU Antitrust Claims
2022.12.21 01:40
Amazon Settled EU Antitrust Claims
Budrigannews.com – After the U.S. online retailer addressed the EU’s concerns regarding its use of sellers’ data, Amazon (AMZN.O) reached a settlement with the European Union in three antitrust probes on Tuesday, saving it from a fine of up to 10% of its global turnover.
In the first case, Amazon was accused of using its size, power, and data to promote its own products in order to gain an unfair advantage over rival merchants that use its platform as well.
The company has agreed not to use sellers’ data for its own private label products or its own competing retail business.
The second case concerned the equal treatment of sellers when ranking their offers for the company’s website’s “buy box,” which accounts for the majority of sales.
If a rival product’s price and delivery significantly differ from the product in the first box, Amazon has agreed to create a second prominently displayed buy box for it.
In the third instance, Amazon agreed that sellers who use the Prime feature can select their own logistics and delivery services in addition to those that Amazon has approved and selected.
“The Commission has decided to accept Amazon’s commitments. “Our preliminary competition concerns about Amazon’s practices on its e-commerce marketplace are addressed by these commitments,” EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager stated at a press conference.
Amazon stated that it was pleased to address the concerns of the European Commission.
An Amazon spokesperson stated, “We have engaged constructively to ensure that we can continue to serve customers across Europe,” despite the fact that the company “continues to disagree with several of the preliminary conclusions the European Commission made.”
The Commission stated that Amazon’s final commitments will remain in effect for five years for the remaining commitments and seven years for Prime and the display of the second competing Buy Box offer.
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It stated, “An independent trustee will be responsible for monitoring the implementation and compliance with the commitments under the supervision of the Commission.”
If Amazon broke its promises, the Commission said it could fine it up to 10% of the company’s annual revenue.
