Italian competition watchdogs have fined Amazon a billion dollar fine.

The allegation is that the trading giant has urged active traders to use its logistics services on the platform.

This is an abuse of his market position, which the antitrust authority AGCM wants to punish with a fine of around 1.129 billion euros.

Amazon rejected the allegation and announced an objection.

Amazon has abused its position as an intermediary for logistics services on its own platform and harmed other service providers and providers, the AGCM said on Thursday.

Specifically, it is about the service “Fulfillment by Amazon” (FBA), known in Germany as “Fulfillment by Amazon”.

The group offers sellers to take over the shipping logistics.

The antitrust authorities argued that advantages on the sales platform are linked to the service.

This gave sellers better visibility or could offer their products as part of the “Amazon Prime” subscription offer.

This is crucial for the sales success on the Amazon.it site.

According to the AGCM, Amazon also applies stricter quality controls to retailers who do not use the logistics service than to others.

This could lead to the blocking of accounts.

"Unjustified and disproportionate"

Amazon has harmed competing logistics companies in the field of e-commerce because they had to adapt to the service of the market leader, the authority said.

At the same time, other sales platforms were also damaged because sellers were pushed to Amazon.

The gap between the US giant and the others has widened.

The fine of more than one billion euros reflects the extent and duration of the market abuse as well as the size of Amazon, said the AGCM.

To avoid this in the future, she wants to impose behavioral measures on the group that a trustee should monitor.

Amazon must ensure that every seller - regardless of whether he uses the Group's shipping logistics or not - has access to the same privileges and is just as visible as others.

Amazon described the penalty and the conditions as "unjustified and disproportionate".

Small and medium-sized retailers have many avenues open to sell their products, "Amazon is just one of these options".

Amazon also supports retailers who handle their own logistics.

Amazon's dealings with other retailers on its platform repeatedly came into the focus of competition watchdogs, including at the level of the EU Commission.