Italy Fines Amazon, Apple $230M (€203M) Over Reseller Collusion
upstart writes:
Italy fines Amazon, Apple $230M over reseller collusion - TechCrunch:
Amazon and Apple have been hit with almost $230 million (203M) in total fines by Italy's antitrust authority - following an investigation into reselling of Apple and (Apple-owned) Beats kit on Amazon's Italian ecommerce marketplace.
The authority says the alleged collusion decreased the level of discounts available to consumers buying Apple and Beats products on the Amazon Italy marketplace.
It has also ordered the tech giants to end the restrictions on resellers.
The AGCM announced the sanction today, saying its probe identified a restrictive agreement between the pair to block some legitimate" resellers of Beats products on Amazon.it.
The fine breaks down into 134.5M (~$151M) for Amazon - and 68.7M (~$77.3M) for Apple.
The agreement in question was signed between the pair back in October 2018.
Per the AGCM's press release, it found the agreement contained a number of contractual clauses which prohibited official and unofficial resellers of Apple and Beats products from using Amazon.it - with the restriction limiting the sale of Apple and Beats products on Amazon.it to Amazon itself and a number of resellers the authority says were chosen individually and in a discriminatory way" - in violation of Art. 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
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