Italy returns to “charge” and fines Amazon 1.13 billion euros for misusing its dominant position – Business

The Italian Competition Authority (AGCM for Italian acronym) has imposed a fine of 1.13 billion euros on Amazon, in what is considered one of the largest fines imposed on a European tech giant.

In a statement, the AGCM said the US company abused its dominant position in the Italian brokerage services market, preferring to rely its logistics service, Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA), for sellers over the Italian version of the e-commerce platform.

Accordingly with power, the use of the FBA service has been associated with a set of exclusive benefits, including the use of the Prime stamp, in order to increase visibility and increase sales in the Italian version of Amazon. In addition to the fine, the AGCM intends to implement a set of corrective measures.

In response to the fine, Amazon indicated that it “strongly disagrees” with the Italian authority’s position and that it would appeal the decision. in ads to ReutersFBA is a “completely optional service” that most sellers on Amazon don’t use. He stressed that “the fine and the proposed measures are unjustified and disproportionate.”

The European Commission worked with the AGCM in this case to ensure the consistency of its own investigations with Amazon. the It was first opened in July 2019With the aim of checking whether a company is violating EU competition laws by illegally collecting data from sellers.

The second, Opened in November 2020Focus on the potential for Amazon to offer preferential treatment to sellers who use technology-specific logistics and delivery.

In November this year, AGCM It has already slapped a fine of 68.7 million euros on Amazon. In this case, which also included a €134.5 million fine for Apple, the authority concluded that an agreement the two companies signed in 2018, setting the terms for distributing the two brands’ products in the Italian store Amazon, harmed consumers, to the detriment of consumers. He started taking advantage of the worst discounts on those products.