Amazon’s digital e-commerce ecosystem, including the amazon.de portal, makes up around 60 percent of overall online retail sales in Germany, it said. The company allegedly removes products from its marketplace if the offering does not meet its pricing criteria.
“These mechanisms limit the visibility of retailers’ offers and, based on non-transparent marketplace rules, interfere with retailers’ freedom to set prices,” the FCO said.
The Federal Cartel Office said that these restrictions placed on sellers are “inappropriate and objectively unjustified,” and constitute an abuse under Section 19a (2) of the German Competition Act, among other violations.
The office alleged that Amazon interfered with the sellers’ “pricing freedom,” which could lead to “a concentration effect on the marketplace.”
For example, Amazon may suggest a product that is typically sold for $10 would be offered on its platform for $8, the office said.
These pricing criteria make it “impossible for sellers to cover their costs” and may force them out of the marketplace, according to the statement.
Amazon’s restrictions “do not follow objective, verifiable principles,” the office said, adding that the company is also not “sufficiently transparent” on these policies in its communications with sellers.
“Competition in online retail in Germany is largely determined by Amazon’s rules for the trading platform,” said Andreas Mundt, president of the Federal Cartel Office.
“Since Amazon competes directly with other marketplace retailers on its platform, influencing competitors’ pricing, even in the form of price caps, is fundamentally questionable from a competition perspective. This is especially true if the affected retailers can no longer cover their own costs and the trading platform is used in violation of antitrust law to hinder the rest of the online trade.”
“If Amazon is now prevented from helping customers find competitive deals, it will lead to a poor shopping experience as we would have to favor uncompetitive or even abusive prices in our store.”
The Epoch Times reached out to Amazon for comment and did not receive a response by the publication time.
US Tech Companies and European Laws
Section 19a of the German Competition Act, the rule that Amazon is accused of violating by the Federal Cartel Office, came into force in 2021.Since then, the office has used this regulation against multiple American big tech companies such as Google, Meta, Apple, and Microsoft.
Germany’s legal actions are not an isolated incident. This year so far, the European Commission has taken action against several U.S. tech giants.
With regard to Alphabet, the commission said certain features and functionalities of Google Search were found to be treating “Alphabet’s own services more favorably compared to rival ones, thus not ensuring the transparent, fair and non-discriminatory treatment of third-party services.”
As for Apple, the commission asked the company to make changes to comply with the “interoperability obligation,” referring to third-party products being able to seamlessly integrate with Apple’s ecosystem.
In April, the EU had dismissed making concessions on digital tech regulations as part of any trade negotiations with the United States.
