Italian Antimonopoly Authority Fines Amazon And Apple For Alleged Anti-competitive Cooperation

Apple has been fined over allegations of anti-competitive cooperation with Amazon. (photo: doc. pixabay)

JAKARTA - Italian antitrust authorities have fined US tech giants Amazon.com and Apple Inc a total of more than 200 million euros (IDR 3.2 trillion) for alleged anti-competitive cooperation in the sale of Apple and Beats products.

The contract terms of a 2018 agreement between the companies state that only selected retailers are allowed to sell Apple and Beats products on Amazon.it, Italy's antitrust watchdog said, adding that this violated European Union rules and affected price competition.

Both Apple and Amazon have said they plan to appeal the fine.

Authorities imposed fines of 68.7 million euros (IDR 1.1 trillion) for Amazon and 134.5 million euros (IDR 2.1 trillion) for Apple, and ordered the company to end restrictions to give retailers of Apple and original Beats products access to Amazon.it in a non-discriminatory manner.

"To ensure our customers buy genuine products, we work closely with our retail partners and have a dedicated team of experts around the world who work with law enforcement, customs, and merchants to ensure only genuine Apple products are sold," Apple said in a statement for each alleged violation.

In a separate statement, Amazon said it strongly disagreed with the Italian authorities' decision and that the proposed fine was "disproportionate and unjustified".

"We reject the allegation that Amazon benefits from excluding sellers from our stores, as our business model depends on their success. As a result of the agreement, Italian customers can find the latest Apple and Beats products in our stores, leveraging a catalog that is more than twice as large. fold, with better deals and faster delivery," Amazon said.