The gendarme of competition in Italy "imposed a sanction of 68.7 million euros on companies of the Amazon group and a sanction of 134.5 million euros on companies of the Apple group" for breach of competition rules in restricting access to the Amazon platform of certain resellers of Apple and Beats products.
The two digital giants, regularly questioned, also have an obligation to allow retailers of genuine Apple and Beats products to access the online sales platform in a non-discriminatory manner.
The investigation opened by the Italian Antitrust “made it possible to establish that certain clauses of the contract signed on October 31, 2018 prohibiting official and unofficial resellers of Apple and Beats products from using the Amazon platform and allowing the sale of Apple and Beats products in this market only to Amazon and to certain sellers chosen individually and in a discriminatory manner, violate Article 101 of the Treaty of Operation of the EU, ”the statement said.
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According to the Italian gendarme, the investigation also made it possible to establish "the will" of the two companies "to introduce purely quantitative restrictions on the number of resellers" in order to increase their earnings.
This behavior is all the more serious in the eyes of the Italian Antitrust as Amazon “represents the electronic commerce site where at least 70% of purchases of consumer electronics products are made in Italy”.
"Disproportionate and unjustified" fine, according to Amazon
The Italian Antitrust recalls that the case law of the Court of Justice of the EU establishes that “distribution systems, to be compatible with competition rules, must be based on criteria of a qualitative, non-discriminatory nature and apply equally to all potential resellers ”.
This investigation will also have served as a model "for the national competition authorities in Germany and Spain who have also launched similar procedures", assures the Italian competition policeman.
In separate statements, both groups said they would appeal.
“To ensure that our customers are buying genuine products, we work closely with our reseller partners and have dedicated expert teams around the world who work with law enforcement, customs and traders to ensure that only genuine Apple products are sold, ”Apple said, denying any wrongdoing.
Disagreeing with the decision, and deeming the fine “disproportionate and unjustified”, Amazon believes that “thanks to this agreement, Italian customers can find the latest Apple and Beats products on our store, benefiting from a catalog that has more than doubled, with better deals and faster shipping ”.
