Apple and Amazon were each fined $218 million in Spain for limiting competition
Spain’s antitrust authority, CNMC, has fined Amazon and Apple a combined total of $218 million for allegedly engaging in anti-competitive practices related to the reselling and marketing of Apple products on Amazon’s e-commerce platform in Spain.
Specifically, the competition watchdog found that both companies unreasonably restricted the number of resellers of Apple products on Amazon’s website in its country. They also limited the advertising spaces where competing Apple products could be promoted on the platform and restricted Amazon’s ability to conduct marketing campaigns targeting customers of Apple products to offer them competing products from other brands.
To address these concerns, Apple and Amazon have agreed to include specific clauses in their contracts regulating Amazon’s role as an Apple distributor, which had affected the sale of Apple products and other brands on Amazon’s website in Spain.
The investigation revealed that over 90% of resellers using Amazon’s platform in Spain to sell Apple products were excluded from the main online market in the country. This led to reduced sales of Apple products by sellers based in other EU countries, thereby limiting trade between member states and resulting in higher prices for consumers purchasing Apple products on the online market in its country.
