The Spanish competition authority on Tuesday imposed a €194 million fine on US tech giants Apple and Amazon for anti-competitive practices over the distribution of Apple brand products by Amazon Spain.
The two groups “agreed to include a number of clauses in the contracts governing” the sale of Apple products by Amazon “that restricted competition,” the National Commission for Markets and Competition (CNMC) justified in a statement.
According to the CNMC, these practices stem from two contracts signed in October 2018 in order to “modify the dynamics of the sale of Apple products on the Amazon Spain website,” which penalised both Apple’s competitors and certain resellers of Apple-branded products.
Under these contracts, “only a certain number of resellers designated by Apple could sell branded products through the Amazon Spain website," details the body responsible for enforcing competition law in Spain in its statement.
In addition, these agreements “limited the possibility for Apple’s competitors to buy advertising space on Amazon’s website in Spain to offer their products”, which “directly harmed consumers by limiting their ability to discover new brands”, the statement adds.
The fine imposed on Apple amounts to €143.6 million, while for Amazon it was €50.5 million.
