Antitrust: Commission accepts commitments by Amazon barring it from using marketplace seller data, and ensuring equal access to Buy Box and Prime

In July 2019, the Commission opened a formal investigation into Amazon's use of non-public data of its marketplace sellers. On 10 November 2020, the Commission adopted a Statement of Objections in which it preliminarily found Amazon dominant on the French and German markets, for the provision of online marketplace services to third-party sellers. It also found that that Amazon's reliance on marketplace sellers' non-public business data to calibrate its retail decisions, distorted fair competition on its platform and prevented effective competition.

In parallel, on 10 November 2020, the Commission opened a second investigation to assess whether the criteria that Amazon sets to select the winner of the Buy Box and to enable sellers to offer products under its Prime Programme, lead to preferential treatment of Amazon's retail business or of the sellers that use Amazon's logistics and delivery services.  

In the second investigation, the Commission preliminarily concluded that Amazon abused its dominance on the French, German and Spanish markets for the provision of online marketplace services to third-party sellers. It also preliminarily concluded that Amazon's rules and criteria for the Buy Box and Prime unduly favour its own retail business, as well as marketplace sellers that use Amazon's logistics and delivery services.