European Commission Penalizes Apple and Amazon for Anti-Competitive Practices
Spain has imposed a hefty fine of $218 million on Amazon and Apple for purportedly engaging in anti-competitive practices related to the resale and promotion of Apple products on Amazon’s e-commerce platform within the nation.
Spain’s competition authority CNMC fined Apple $161 million and Amazon fined about $57 million.
The country’s competition watchdog found that both companies “unreasonably limited the number of resellers of Apple products on the Amazon website in Spain.”
The tech giants “also limited the ad slots where competing Apple products can be advertised on the Amazon website in Spain.”
“Finally, they limited Amazon’s ability to direct marketing campaigns to customers of Apple products on its website in Spain to offer them competing products from other brands,” the authority said in a statement.
Now, both Apple and Amazon have agreed to include a set of clauses in their contracts governing Amazon’s terms as an Apple distributor, which affected the sale of Apple products and other brands on Amazon’s website in Spain.
According to the watchdog, more than 90 percent of retailers who had used the Amazon website in Spain to retail Apple products were excluded from the country’s main online market.
“Sales of Apple products by sellers located in other EU countries via the Spanish Amazon website decreased, which restricted trade between Member States and increased relative prices for consumers to buy Apple products on this online market. Spain,” the competition authority noted.
