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The Italian competition authority has imposed a fine of 1.1 billion euros on Amazon for abuse of its dominant market position. The e-commerce giant will not accept the penalty and is going to appeal.
Discrimination
According to the Italian competition authority AGCM, Amazon put independent sellers on the platform at a disadvantage if they did not outsource their logistics to the e-commerce company. Through ‘Fulfilment by Amazon’ (FBA), the company offers all kinds of logistical services to sales partners, such as storage, packaging and shipping. However, the inspection body claims that Amazon provides a series of benefits to FBA users: for instance, increasing the visibility of the goods they sell. In this way, Amazon would be favouring its own products, Belgian news channel VRT NWS reports.
Amazon has already announced that it will appeal the fine, which it considers “unjust” and “out of proportion”. According to the e-commerce company, FBA is purely optional. Only a minority of independent retailers would actually use it.
The e-commerce giant has already been fined several times in recent years: in July, the Luxembourg privacy watchdog CNPD imposed a fine of 746 million euros on the American company. In addition, two investigations by the European Commission into the company’s business practices are also pending.
