European Union: Issued EU Commission statement of objections as part of its investigation into Amazon for anti-competitive data usage

On 10 November 2020, the European Union (EU) Commission releases a statement of objections as part of its investigation into Amazon for anti-competitive data usage, informing the company of the Commission’s preliminary view. The Commission considers that Amazon breached EU antitrust rules, and noted that Amazon’s use of non-public data of competing sellers led to competition distortion in the online retail markets. Amazon collected and aggregated data from retailers who offer their goods on the Amazon website, and used the data which is not publicly available in its business decisions to adjust its retail offers. This conduct leads to the preferential treatment of its own products by abusing its dominant market position. If proven, this would represent a violation of Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.