Italy Imposes Around $1.3 Billion on Amazon for Alleged Abuse of Market Dominance

By Cecilia Butini

The Italian competition authority said Thursday that it has imposed a fine of more than 1.13 billion euros ($1.28 billion) on Amazon.com Inc for abuse of market dominance, saying that the e-commerce company has an "absolute dominance" in the field and that it has damaged its competitors in e-commerce logistics.

The authority, known as Agcm, said that Amazon's European and Italian subsidiaries have undermined competitors' ability to sell their goods online by tying sellers' use of Amazon's logistics service to offers meant to obtain more visibility online, such as Amazon Prime.

This way, other e-commerce logistics operators were deprived of the possibility to offer online sellers their own services, according to the regulator.

Competitor marketplaces were also damaged as sellers who use Amazon's logistics are discouraged to sell their products on other platforms, the regulator said.

Amazon wasn't immediately available for comment.

Write to Cecilia Butini at cecilia.butini@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 09, 2021 03:45 ET (08:45 GMT)

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