Amazon WIll Change Business Practices To Settle EU Antitrust Suits This Month

Amazon will reportedly make changes to its business practices to resolve two European antitrust investigations next week.

The European Commission announced competition investigations in July 2019 and November 2020 examining Amazon’s use of non-public data from independent merchants who sell goods through its e-commerce platform.

The investigations have focused on Amazon’s dual role, as a retailer and as the operator of a marketplace for retailers in which it participates. The commission’s concern is that “Amazon appears to use competitively sensitive information – about marketplace sellers, their products and transactions on the marketplace” to gain advantage over other market participants.

Read more: Amazon Settles EU Antitrust Probes

According to The New York Times and The Financial Times, Amazon has agreed to a settlement scheduled for disclosure on December 20, 2022. The settlement, it’s said, is substantially similar to the draft commitments [PDF] proposed by Amazon in July and presented for public comment.

Amazon reportedly will agree not to use non-public data to compete with its sellers. That is to say, Amazon won’t be able to drill into the stats it privately holds on its merchants to undercut or outmaneuver them in Amazon’s marketplace.

Sellers will be allowed to participate in Amazon Prime without using Amazon’s logistics service for shipping. And they will also be afforded equal access to valuable screen space, which affects product visibility and thus sales.