Germany initiates antitrust proceedings against Amazon

Germany's antitrust authority initiated proceedings against Amazon based on new regulations for large digital companies, the Federal Cartel Office, or the Bundeskartellamt, announced on Tuesday, reported Xinhua.

The country's competition watchdog would first establish whether Amazon was of "paramount economic power significance for competition across markets" and thus held economic power that led to an "almost unchallengeable position," said Andreas Mundt, president of the Bundeskartellamt.

"If we find that the company does have such a market position, we could take early action against and prohibit possible anti-competitive practices by Amazon," Mundt added.

The new amendment to the German Competition Act, which came into force in January 2021, allowed for earlier and more effective intervention against large digital groups that endangered competition, according to the Bundeskartellamt.

Conducts which could be prohibited under the new regulations include the self-preferencing of a group's own services, or the sweeping of markets by unfair means, such as tying strategies or creating barriers to market entry by processing relevant data.

The Bundeskartellamt has been investigating Amazon's influence on the pricing of sellers on the company's marketplace, and its agreements with brand manufacturers that exclude third-party retailers from selling brand products on the marketplace, according to the German cartel office.

"We cannot comment on ongoing proceedings, we will fully cooperate with the Bundeskartellamt," an Amazon spokesperson said on Tuesday.