Italy’s authority (Autorita’ Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato, has fined internet based retail giants Amazon $1.3 billion for supposedly manhandling its prevailing market position and pushing outsider merchants (third party-sellers) to use the organization’s planned logistics services, Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA).
The decision by AGCM is in accordance with the pattern among the European Commission and other European national competition authorities of battling global tech organizations that they see as prevailing.
Nonetheless, Natasha Tardif, who is the managing partner at Reed Smith’s Paris office and co-head of the legal firm’s Competition and European Law office, has shared her feelings concerning this decision.
As indicated by Tardif, it’s an exceptionally cruel decision as far as fines and conduct orders are concerned. Tardif said there is somewhat a sudden ‘attack’ on global tech organization.
She said:
“There was a June decision against Google in France. And there is an ongoing investigation by the European Commission against Amazon, where they are looking at various services that are either vertically integrated or related, and where the competition authorities suspect they are using their dominance in certain markets to leverage their power on another market to favor their services.”
The French Competition Authority fined Google for favoring its tools for buying and selling advertisements online, which it alleges constitutes abuse of a dominant position.
The AGCM argues that by excluding sellers that don’t use FBA from Amazon’s Prime category—and excluding them from large online sales event deals, such as Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Prime Day—Amazon is also using a dominant position to favor the adoption of its own logistics service.
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In contrast to the French case, where Google made a deal to avoid addressing or question current realities and settled the case with responsibilities that went farther than anticipated, Amazon has shown up cocked and locked and plans to debate the decision, which it says isn’t accurate.
Tardif says the fine is enormous. In the mean time, Amazon is also saying the AGCM’s representation is a twisting of its plan of action.
They express their anger that it didn’t attach any of their services to force part of them on their commercial center vendors, and that a significant number of the dealers really don’t use the FBA. If this is confirmed before the court of appeal, the AGCM’s case may not be sustained.
