Moscow, Dec 21 (Agency) The European Commission decided on Tuesday to consider concessions offered by Amazon in the EU antitrust investigation enough to settle the dispute over the US company’s use of non-public marketplace seller data and the way it favors products. “The European Commission has made commitments offered by Amazon legally binding under EU antitrust rules. Amazon’s commitments address the Commission’s competition concerns over Amazon’s use of non-public marketplace seller data and over a possible bias in granting to sellers access to its Buy Box and its Prime Programme,” a statement read. In particular, Amazon pledged to improve the presentation of the Buy Box offer, increase the transparency to sellers, provide independent carriers with means to directly contact their Amazon customers, enhance carrier data protection and improve conditions of access to its Prime Programme.
The European Commission expressed its belief that Amazon’s commitments “will ensure that Amazon does not use marketplace seller data for its own retail operations and that it grants non-discriminatory access to Buy Box and Prime,” according to the statement. If Amazon violates its obligations under the deal, it may cost the company up to 10% of its annual global turnover in a fine, or the US e-commerce giant may face a penalty payment of 5% of its daily turnover for every day of non-compliance, the European Commission said. In July 2019, the European Commission launched a probe into Amazon’s use of data of its marketplace sellers over suspicions of antitrust law violations. In November 2020, for the same reason, the European Commission opened another investigation to check conditions Amazon establishes to select a Buy Box winner and empower sellers to offer products under its Prime Programme. In both cases, the commission preliminarily found that Amazon abused its dominant position on the French, German and Spanish markets.