European Union: Issued General Court Ruling on Amazon's action for annulment

On 14 October 2021, the EU General Court issued its ruling regarding Amazon.com Inc’s action for annulment (T-19/21 P) against the European Commission (EC)’s investigation into Amazon’s alleged unfair commercial practices that possibly favoured its own retail products or that of marketplace sellers that used Amazon’s logistics and delivery services. The EC’s investigation would have included the entire European Economic Area (EEA) except Italy, as the Italian Competition Authority had begun a similar investigation in the Italian market in April 2019. Amazon’s appeal sought an annulment of the EC's decision insofar as it excluded Italy from the scope of its investigation. The General Court's ruled that Amazon's appeal on the basis of the EC’s exclusion of Italy from the scope of proceedings deprived the company of protection against parallel proceedings by the EC were not valid.