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The German anti-cartel office announced Thursday the opening of an investigation for abuse of dominant position against Amazon, after "many complaints from distributors against the practices" of the US online trading giant.
In detail, the Bundeskartellamt will look at the clauses imposed by Amazon to other traders, the census of their products, cancellation conditions or terms of payment, he says.
Amazon plays a "dual role" as the leading online retailer and manager of the largest online sales platform, serving as a "gatekeeper" of customer access, says Andreas Mundt, president of the constable antitrust.
Given this double cap, it can "potentially impede access to the platform of other distributors," says Mundt, seized with "many complaints" about it.
"Half of the world's products sold by Amazon come from small and medium-sized companies," said the giant in a statement.
The group ensures that its role as a commercial intermediary, far from overwhelming other distributors, "allows SMEs to reach hundreds of millions of customers worldwide and to compete with major brands."
The "tens of thousands of German SMEs" that use Amazon "achieved in 2017 record exports of more than 2.1 billion euros, argues the US group.
Since mid-September, Amazon has been the subject of a European Commission survey on the use of data collected by the group thanks to the retailers present on its platform, which could give it a commercial advantage.
The two procedures conducted in Brussels and Germany "complement each other," said the boss of the German anti-cartel.
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