Austria: Closed investigation into Amazon for alleged abuse of dominance after it modified its terms and conditions

On 17 July 2019, Amazon announced it had modified its terms and conditions. These modifications led to the Austrian Federal Competition Authority (BWB) closing its investigations into Amazon. On 14 February 2019, the BWB investigated Amazon for allegedly abusing its dominance. The BWB had received several complaints in previous years concerning the alleged discriminatory and unfair treatment of sellers on Amazon's platform while treating its own products in a favourable manner. Specifically, Amazon is alleged to have terminated the retailers' accounts without warning, deleted product rankings without reason, implemented restrictive clauses into contracts with retailers, and obliged retailers to disclose their purchase prices. The revised terms will enter into force on 16 August 2019.