On July 18, the Spanish competition authority made a significant move by fining Apple and Amazon 194 million euros due to their involvement in restrictive clauses within the distribution contracts for Apple products on Amazon’s Marketplace in Spain. The authority’s investigation revealed that these companies had orchestrated agreements that excluded over 90% of third-party sellers of Apple products, while also limiting advertising space for rival products. Furthermore, they imposed constraints on marketing campaigns without Apple’s consent, specifically targeting customers who purchased Apple products to persuade them to switch to competitors.
As a result, this concentrated supply and marketing of Apple products in the Amazon Marketplace, stifling competition among third-party sellers and leading to price increases that negatively affected consumers. Consequently, Apple faces a fine of approximately 144 million euros, while Amazon is fined around 51 million euros. This ruling sends a clear message about the consequences of anti-competitive practices in the digital marketplace.
Original source in Spanish.
