Berlin (AFP)
American e-commerce giant Amazon is targeted by an investigation in Germany for "possible anti-competitive practices", on the basis of a new law, passed in January, strengthening the powers of action against the digital giants , the authorities announced on Tuesday.
"The federal anti-cartel office has opened an investigation against Amazon on the basis of the new rules applying to large digital companies", announced the German competition gendarme in a press release.
The authorities indicate that they want to determine whether Amazon has "primary importance in the markets", allowing it to have "potential anti-competitive practices", he said.
The antitrust policeman thus takes advantage of the extended skills he has had since the start of the year and which gives him the possibility of establishing whether a company exercises control over several digital markets, forming an ecosystem that is difficult to attack by its competitors.
Previously, the competition office had to prove the existence of an abuse of a dominant position in a specific market, before taking sanctions related to specific practices, through a more cumbersome procedure for a more limited effect.
# photo1
This law mainly targets the digital giants, accused of taking advantage of a virtual monopoly position, through their network of integrated activities.
- "Self-referencing" -
"This could apply to Amazon, with its online sales platform, and its many other offers, especially digital," said Andreas Mundt, president of the German Anti-Cartel Office, quoted in the press release.
Certain Amazon practices such as "the establishment of barriers to entry" or "self-referencing of its own services" could therefore be prohibited, the institution specified.
Contacted by AFP, Amazon declined to comment, assuring that it wanted to "fully cooperate" with the German authorities.
With this law, Germany is a pioneer in the fight against the anti-competitive practices of the digital giants in Europe.
The European Commission also unveiled in December a regulatory project aimed at putting an end to the abuses of the digital giants.
The regulation on digital markets ("Digital Markets Act", DMA), which must still be the subject of debates in the European Parliament and between the Member States, wants to define specific rules for the digital giants, qualified as "systemic players". ".
Like Germany, Brussels wants to establish a framework dedicated to these large platforms and list prohibited practices rather than pronouncing sanctions a posteriori.
# photo2
The German authority inaugurated its extended powers by launching in January a similar procedure against the American social network Facebook.
"In view of the strong presence of Facebook on the markets, with its eponymous social network, Whatsapp and Instagram", the gendarme of the competition does not exclude that the group meets the criteria "of paramount importance on the market", explained- there then.
Two other proceedings by the German gendarme, launched before the change in legislation, are underway against Amazon for practices deemed anti-competitive.
In 2019, the anti-cartel office had already pushed the American giant to modify the conditions of use of its platform vis-à-vis the distributors whose products it lists.
Amazon employs 23,000 people in Germany and claims to have invested 28 billion euros in the country since 2010.
© 2021 AFP