Amazon promises to play fair with third-party sellers

Amazon has agreed to settle two EU antitrust cases Alleged Misbehavior with Third-Party RetailersThe European Commission announced on Tuesday. However, the e-commerce giant will not pay a fine. Instead, it will comply with EU antitrust laws for the next seven years by changing business practices that regulators say hurt third-party sellers on the platform.

“Today’s decision sets new rules for how Amazon operates in Europe. Amazon can no longer abuse its dual role and must change several business practices,” Margarette Vestager, executive vice president for competition policy, said in a statement.

The commission, which is the EU’s executive branch, found in 2020 that Amazon distorted fair competition on its platform by using non-public data from third-party sellers to compete with them, the statement said. The commission found that the e-commerce platform’s criteria for the Buy Box and Prime program also “unduely benefit” its retailers or retailers who use its logistics and delivery services.

Amazon agreed to offer third-party retailers an equal opportunity to opt-in as the default option for the platform’s shopping box. It also stops using non-public data from independent sellers in its marketplace and establishes non-discriminatory procedures for retailers’ products to qualify for Amazon Prime.

Amazon is required to comply with the commission’s final guidelines for seven years.

“We are pleased to have addressed the European Commission’s concerns and resolved these issues,” a company spokesperson told CNET via email. “While we continue to disagree with several of the European Commission’s initial conclusions, we are constructively working to ensure that we can serve customers across Europe and the 225,000 European SMEs that sell through our stores. support, we have had a constructive interaction.”