Amazon offers concessions to end EU antitrust investigation

[July 14, 2022]   By Foo Yun Chee

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -Amazon has offered to refrain from using sellers' data for its own competing retail business and boost the visibility of rival products on its platform, EU regulators said on Thursday, a move aimed at staving off a possible hefty fine.

The logo of Amazon is seen at the company logistics centre in Boves, France, August 8, 2018. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol

The U.S. online retail giant offered to treat sellers equally when ranking their offers for the "buy box" on its website and which generates the bulk of its sales, confirming a Reuters story.

Sellers will also be allowed to choose their own logistics and delivery services company instead of Amazon's competing logistics services.

The European Commission said rivals and customers had until Sept. 9 to provide feedback to Amazon's proposal before it decides whether to accept the offer and end its two investigations.

Amazon, which risks a fine up to 10% of its global turnover if found guilty of breaching EU rules, said while it disagrees with several of the Commission's conclusions it has engaged constructively with the EU competition watchdog.

The Commission in 2020 charged Amazon with using its size, power and data to push its own products and gain an unfair advantage over rival merchants that sell on its online platform.

(Reporting by Foo Yun CheeEditing by Mark Potter)

 

[© 2022 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.