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Contractual provisions of a 2018 agreement between the companies
meant only selected resellers were allowed to sell Apple and
Beats products on Amazon.it, the watchdog said, adding that this
was in violation of European Union rules and affected
competition on prices.
Both Apple and Amazon said they plan to appeal against the
fines.
The authority imposed a fine of 68.7 million euros on Amazon and
134.5 million euros on Apple, ordering the companies to end the
restrictions to give retailers of genuine Apple and Beats
products access to Amazon.it in a non-discriminatory manner.
"To ensure our customers purchase genuine products, we work
closely with our reseller partners and have dedicated teams of
experts around the world who work with law enforcement, customs
and merchants to ensure only genuine Apple products are being
sold," Apple said, denying any wrongdoing.
In a separate statement Amazon said it strongly disagreed with
the decision of the Italian authority and that the proposed fine
was "disproportionate and unjustified".
"We reject the suggestion that Amazon benefits by excluding
sellers from our store, since our business model relies on their
success. As a result of the agreement, Italian customers can
find the latest Apple and Beats products on our store,
benefiting from a catalogue that more than doubled, with better
deals and faster shipping," Amazon said.
($1 = 0.8885 euros)
(Reporting by Gianluca Semeraro and Elvira Pollina; Editing by
David Goodman)
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