Anti-competitive cooperation: 200 million fine for Apple and Amazon

Both Apple and Amazon have said they want to appeal the fines.

Apple and Amazon have been fined a total of over 200 million euros by the Italian antitrust for alleged anti-competitive cooperation in the sale of Apple and Beats products.

The fines are the culmination of an investigation that began last year based on allegations that the two companies blocked the sale of Apple and Beats devices to retailers to stifle competition .

The Italian authority said contractual provisions of a 2018 agreement between the two companies only allowed selected retailers to sell products on Amazon’s Italian store, which violated EU rules and impacted price competition .

Amazon was fined € 68.7 million , while Apple received a € 134.5 million fine . Antitrust also ordered the companies to end restrictions to allow retailers of authentic Apple and Beats products to access Amazon’s Italian web store in a “non-discriminatory way”. Both companies said they wanted to appeal the fines.

“To ensure that our customers purchase genuine products, we work closely with our reseller partners and have dedicated teams of experts around the world who work with law enforcement, customs and merchants to ensure that only products are sold. Original Apple, ”said the Cupertino company, denying any wrongdoing.

In a separate statement, Amazon said it strongly disagrees with the Italian authority’s decision and that the proposed fine is “disproportionate and unjustified”.

“We reject the suggestion that Amazon benefits from excluding sellers from our store, as our business model is based on their success. Thanks to the agreement, Italian customers can find the latest Apple and Beats products in our store, benefiting from a large catalog, with better offers and faster shipping, ”said the e-commerce giant.

This is not the first investigation of Apple by the Italian antitrust. A previous investigation looked into the company for iPhone battery slowdowns, which the authority called a form of planned obsolescence and subsequently fined Apple € 10 million.