Italy slaps Amazon with $ 1.2 billion fine Business and Economic News

The Italian investigation has accused Amazon of abusing “harmful” practices and its dominant position.

Amazon.com Inc. was fined more than $ 1.1 billion ($ 1.2 billion) in an anti-competitive investigation in Italy in one of the heaviest penalties imposed by a European regulator on alleged “harmful” practices by its retail giant.

The technology giant has expanded its shipping services in Europe with the aim of convincing local businesses to set up their own trucking companies to transport goods exclusively for the company. The retailer also linked access to some of its exclusive advantages to its use of logistics, the regulator said.

“Amazon has a leading position in the Italian brokerage services market, which Amazon has used to promote its own logistics service,” it said in a statement on Thursday.

Amazon last month lost an EU court order to prevent the EU and Italy from conducting parallel anti-trust investigations into concerns about how it treats sellers of its platform.

The European Commission is looking at how Amazon selects merchants for the featured box on the pages that attract about 80% of sales. As well as how retailers can offer products to Amazon’s Prime loyalty program, which offers free shipping, which effectively benefits Amazon products and resellers who use Amazon’s logistics and delivery service.

“We do not fully agree with the decision of the Italian Competition Authority and we will appeal,” Amazon said in a statement. “The proposed fine and remedies are unjustified and disproportionate.”

The U.S.-based company has conducted a survey of a wide range of data gathered in recent years on various customers and partners, including independent retailers selling in its retail market, Alexa digital assistant users, and buyers with browsing and shopping history. report what Amazon is showing you on its website.

The Luxembourg Data Protection Commission, where Amazon is based in the EU, fined the company 746 million euros in July for processing personal data in breach of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation. Germany has conducted several studies on Amazon sales. The UK is also looking into similar issues with the EU.

The EU Commission has also said that it sees problems with voice assistants and trust data on data that allows Amazon and others to gather information about user behavior.

The Italian caretaker said he had promised Amazon some changes, including “providing sales benefits and visibility to Amazon.it to all third-party sellers who are able to meet fair and discriminatory standards to meet their orders.”

–With the help of Daniel Lepido.