The Italian Antitrust Authority has ordered a fine of one billion and 128 million euros to the companies Amazon Europe Core, Amazon Services Europ, Amazon Eu, Amazon Italia Services and Amazon Italia Logistica for abuse of a dominant position.
This is one of the highest fines imposed by the Italian Antitrust.
According to the Authority, the companies controlled by the US group have violated Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
The conduct of Amazon - considered an economic entity in a position of absolute dominance in the Italian marketplace brokerage services market - would not only have further increased the gap between the power of the giant and that of competing activities in the delivery of e-commerce orders. , but would also have penalized other online sales sites: due to the cost of duplicating warehouses, sellers who adopt Amazon's logistics would in fact be discouraged from offering their products on other online platforms, at least with the same breadth of range .
This illicit strategy was considered by the Antitrust to be particularly serious due to its duration, the effects produced on the market and the size of the group in question: for this reason it ordered such a high penalty.
Furthermore, to restore the unlawfully violated competitive conditions, it has imposed behavioral measures that will be subjected to the scrutiny of a control commission, which will verify the correctness of the commitments requested of the giant.
The reaction of Amazon was not long in coming, which replied with a statement, stating that it will file an appeal: "We deeply disagree with the decision of the Antitrust Authority. The sanction and the obligations imposed are unjustified and disproportionate. . More than half of all annual Amazon sales in Italy are generated by small and medium-sized businesses and their success is at the heart of our business model. SMEs have multiple channels to sell their products both online and offline: Amazon is just one of these options, "the note reads.
(Unioneonline / F)
