German cartel office bans Amazon from using price controls

FRANKFURT, Feb 5 (Reuters) – Germany’s cartel office has prohibited Amazon from imposing price caps on online retailers in its German marketplace and for the first time claimed several million euros that it said the U.S. firm obtained through anti-competitive behavior.

“Amazon competes directly with other marketplace retailers on its platform,” said cartel office president Andreas Mundt.

“Therefore, influencing competitors’ pricing, even in the form of price caps, is only permissible in absolutely exceptional cases, such as price gouging,” he added.

Since Amazon has so far stuck to its price practice, the office is using a new power it gained through 2023 reforms to initially demand 59 million euros ($69.54 million) from the Big Tech company. The company has one month to appeal the decision.

Rocco Braeuniger, the country manager for Amazon’s German site, said the company would appeal “this unprecedented regulatory decision” and continue to operate as usual.

If Amazon is now solely obligated to “promote uncompetitive or even abusive prices in the store, this will lead to a poor shopping experience,” he added.

In a similar case, the German watchdog in October started investigating whether China’s Temu is influencing the pricing of third-party merchants on its e-commerce platform.

($1 = 0.8484 euros)

(Reporting by Hakan Ersen and Matthias InverardiWriting by Miranda MurrayEditing by Ludwig Burger)