ROME (Reuters) -An Italian court has reduced a 1.13-billion-euro ($1.32 billion) fine imposed on Amazon in 2021 by Italy’s competition authority for alleged abuse of a dominant position, a ruling showed on Tuesday. The Lazio administrative court upheld the main findings by the regulator after Amazon appealed, but said the fine had to be recalculated, […]
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Italian court cuts 1.1-billion-euro antitrust fine on Amazon
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ROME (Reuters) -An Italian court has reduced a 1.13-billion-euro ($1.32 billion) fine imposed on Amazon in 2021 by Italy’s competition authority for alleged abuse of a dominant position, a ruling showed on Tuesday.
The Lazio administrative court upheld the main findings by the regulator after Amazon appealed, but said the fine had to be recalculated, arguing that the watchdog had not adequately explained the reasons for including a discretionary 50% increase.
The ruling did not specify the revised figure for the fine.
Deducting the 50% surcharge from the original 1.13 billion euros would result in a final fine of around 750 million euros, according to Reuters calculations.
Amazon was originally fined for restricting competition in e-commerce logistics services in Italy. At the time, it was one of the biggest penalties imposed on a U.S. tech giant in Europe.
“We will continue to defend our position on the case. More than half of all annual sales on Amazon in Italy come from small and medium businesses (SMBs),” Amazon said in a statement.
“We have 20,000 Italian SMBs that sell on Amazon, including sellers that manage shipment themselves, and we constantly invest to support their growth,” it said.
($1 = 0.8542 euros)
(Reporting by Giulia Segreti, editing by Alvise Armellini and Susan Fenton)