LONDON: Amazon, seeking to resolve two European Union antitrust investigations, has promised to treat third-party merchants on its website fairly, the bloc鈥檚 competition watchdog said Thursday.
The US online retail giant offered to make a number of commitments to ease competition concerns, and the European Commission, the 27-nation bloc鈥檚 top antitrust enforcer, said it will now seek feedback on them from 鈥渋nterested parties.鈥�
The commission launched an investigation four years ago over concerns Amazon breached EU competition rules by using data from merchants selling products on its platform to gain an unfair advantage over them.
It also opened a separate investigation into whether Amazon favors its own retail business and merchants that use its logistics and delivery system over other sellers.
The investigations are part of the bloc鈥檚 wider efforts to curb the power of big technology companies. Amazon also is facing similar scrutiny in the US
Amazon said that while it disagreed with several of the conclusions, it has 鈥渆ngaged constructively with the commission to address their concerns and preserve our ability to serve European customers and the more than 185,000 European small- and medium-sized businesses selling through our stores.鈥�
The company also said it has 鈥渟erious concerns鈥� about new EU digital regulations, known as the Digital Markets Act, that it said are 鈥渦nfairly targeting Amazon and a few other US companies.鈥� The act, part of the EU鈥檚 overhaul of its digital rulebook, aims to prevent tech giants from becoming dominant by making them treat smaller rivals fairly under threat of hefty fines.
Under the commission鈥檚 investigation, Amazon had faced a possible fine of up to 10 percent of its annual worldwide revenue, which could have amounted to billions of dollars.
Britain鈥檚 competition watchdog opened a similar probe into Amazon last week, looking into concerns that the online retailer is abusing its dominance to undermine rivals.
The EU commission suspected Amazon of distorting competition by accessing and analyzing real-time data from independent vendors selling goods on its platform to help decide which new products of its own to launch and how to price and market them.
To address the problem, Amazon has promised to refrain from using 鈥渘on-public data鈥� from the vendors鈥� activities to compete with them through its own sales of branded goods or 鈥減rivate label鈥� products.
To settle the second investigation, Amazon committed to allowing sellers on its Prime membership service to use any logistics and delivery company of their choosing and to set 鈥渘on-discriminatory鈥� criteria for who gets chosen to sell on Prime.
The company also promised to give equal treatment to all sellers when ranking their product offers for the site鈥檚 鈥渂uy box,鈥� which lets shoppers add items directly to their shopping baskets. The box features a single seller鈥檚 product even though multiple merchants might offer the item, so Amazon also is promising to show a second, competing offer to give consumers more choice.
If accepted, Amazon鈥檚 commitments would remain in force for five years. The commission is receiving feedback on the proposals until Sept. 9.
Amazon鈥檚 dominance is also a concern across the Atlantic. In April, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Securities and Exchange Commission was investigating how the company disclosed some of its business practices, including how it handles seller data.
A month prior, federal lawmakers had asked the Justice Department for a criminal probe into the tech giant鈥檚 testimony over its competitive practices. In a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, the House Judiciary Committee accused Amazon of attempting to 鈥渋nfluence, obstruct or impede鈥� a congressional investigation into the company鈥檚 market dominance, a charge the company denies.
Simultaneously, federal lawmakers are leading a push to pass bipartisan legislation aiming to rein in anticompetitive practices from Amazon, Google, Meta and Apple.