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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 of 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 distributor 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 hinder access to the platform of other distributors," says Andreas Mundt, seized with "many complaints" about it.
This procedure is a new bad news for Amazon, which since mid-September 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 confer a commercial advantage. Both procedures in Brussels and Germany "complement each other," said the boss of the German anti-cartel.
"Half of the products sold worldwide by Amazon come from small and medium-sized companies," defended the giant in a statement.
The group asserts that its role as commercial intermediary, far from overwhelming other distributors, "allows SMEs to reach hundreds of millions of customers worldwide and to compete with major brands."
Abuse small distributors
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.
German Justice Minister Katarina Barley hailed the opening of the investigation, saying that "the major Internet platforms (…) have considerable market power" which they "should not abuse. vis-à-vis the small distributors ".
The Social Democrat Minister of the Merkel government also wanted "if the situation requires it to take action".
Internet giants are increasingly being criticized for their business methods, how they manage users' data, and their efforts to evade taxes.
France in particular wants to subject them to a tax on turnover at European level, a subject that is still the subject of debate, particularly in the face of German reservations.
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