Amazon Offers to Boost Rival Products’ Visibility, Stop Using Sellers’ Data to Avoid EU Antitrust Fine

Amazon said while it disagrees with several of the EU’s conclusions, it has engaged constructively with the watchdog.

By Agencies | Updated: 14 July 2022 17:37 IST

Amazon Offers to Boost Rival Products’ Visibility, Stop Using Sellers’ Data to Avoid EU Antitrust Fine

Amazon said it has engaged with the EU competition watchdog

Highlights

The Commission in 2020 charged Amazon with using its size
Amazon joins Google and Meta in falling under reinforced monitoring
Amazon said it has engaged with the EU competition watchdog

Amazon has offered to refrain from using sellers' data for its own competing retail business and boost the visibility of rival products on its platform, EU regulators said on Thursday, a move aimed at staving off a possible hefty fine. The US online retail giant offered to treat sellers equally when ranking their offers for the "buy box" on its website and which generates the bulk of its sales, confirming a Reuters story. Sellers will also be allowed to choose their own logistics and delivery services company instead of Amazon's competing logistics services.

The European Commission said rivals and customers had until September 9 to provide feedback to Amazon's proposal before it decides whether to accept the offer and end its two investigations.

Amazon, which risks a fine up to 10 percent of its global turnover if found guilty of breaching EU rules, said while it disagrees with several of the Commission's conclusions it has engaged constructively with the EU competition watchdog.

[Sponsored] Samsung Galaxy S24: The Ultimate Camera Phone With Smarter On-Device AI

The Commission in 2020 charged Amazon with using its size, power and data to push its own products and gain an unfair advantage over rival merchants that sell on its online platform. As reported a week ago, Germany's anti-cartel watchdog said it has placed e-commerce giant Amazon under closer surveillance for any possible abuse of its market position.

The Federal Cartel Office said it had determined Amazon to be a company of "paramount significance for competition", a move that will allow it to act more effectively to "intervene and prohibit potential anticompetitive practices".

Amazon joins Google parent Alphabet and Meta, the group behind Facebook, in falling under reinforced monitoring made possible by the German Competition Act.

Amazon's Filing Discloses 13,000 Disciplinary Notices Issued at US Warehouse

The act, which came into force in January 2021, allows the cartel authority to intervene earlier, particularly against the world's tech giants.

Amazon was a "key player in the e-commerce sector" and had created a "digital ecosystem" as both seller and marketplace, said Federal Cartel Office chief, Andreas Mundt.

Noise co-founder Amit Khatri joins Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast, for a special episode. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.