Competition: Amazon’s commitments to put an end to Brussels investigations

Amazon has made commitments to put an end to two investigations by the European Commission, which suspects it of violating competition rules, in particular by taking advantage of data from independent retailers who sell on its site, Brussels announced on Thursday.

The American online retail giant is committedrefrain from using non-public data relating to or derived from the activities of independent sellers on its marketplace for its retail activities that compete with such sellers“, indicates the European executive in a press release. This response relates to an EU investigation opened in July 2019. The US company has a dual function. It sells products directly on its website, but it also provides independent sellers, with whom it competes, with a marketplace on which they can sell to consumers.

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The platform has also made commitments in the context of a second investigation by the Commission, which suspects it of bias in granting sellers access to its “buy-box“(button allowing buyers to directly place the products they wish to buy in their basket), and to its premium program “Prime“. She was notably suspected of preferential treatment of sellers in her marketplace using the delivery services of the American giant. Many of these charges will be covered by EU digital markets legislation (“Digital Markets Act », DMA) which should come into force next year.

“Although we (…) disagree with several conclusions of the European Commission, we have engaged in a constructive approach with the Commission to address their concerns and preserve our ability to serve European customers and the more than 185,000 small and medium-sized European companies that sell through our stores“Reacted Amazon in a press release. The Commission invites all interested parties to give their opinion before September 9 on these commitments that Amazon has proposed for a period of five years.