Antitrust, Amazon in the EU's crosshairs: violates competition rules

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November 10, 2020The European Commission formally indicted Amazon for misusing the non-public business data of independent sellers, a practice that would create a head start for its retail businesses.

This was announced by the Antritrust Commission at a press conference.

According to Brussels, this conduct constitutes direct competition with those third-party sellers.

The EU has also launched a second formal investigation into the possible preferential treatment of offers put in place by Amazon towards sellers who use the company's logistics and delivery services.

"We need to ensure that dual market power platforms, such as Amazon, do not distort competition," said Commission Vice President Margrethe Vestager, responsible for market policy.

"Data on the activity of third-party sellers should not be used to the advantage of Amazon when acting as a competitor to these sellers," added the Danish policy.

Amazon's rules "should not artificially favor Amazon retail offerings or favor offers from retailers using Amazon's fulfillment and delivery services."

"With e-commerce booming and Amazon being the leading e-commerce platform, fair and undistorted access to online consumers is important for all sellers", concluded Vestager. 

The new investigation announced by the Commission concerns the Amazon Prime paid service and in particular "Buy Box", which is associated with the relevant wording on the group's portal.

The suspicion of the EU authority is that in this case too "it favors its own offers and offers that use Amazon's logistics and delivery services".

In particular, the EU will verify the criteria used by Amazon to select the "winners" of the "Buy Box" and those who are allowed to offer goods to Prime users, under the Amazon loyalty program. 

If convicted by the Brussels authorities, the penalties against Amazon could reach 10% of its annual income, which amounts to several billion euros.

However, the Seattle company has rejected the accusations and, in a statement, claims to be "in disagreement with the preliminary statements of the EU Commission and to continue to make all efforts necessary for an accurate understanding of the facts".