Spain’s CNMC fines Amazon, Apple with $218 mln

The Spanish National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC) has fined Amazon and Apple a total of $218 million for colluding to restrict competition on the Amazon website in Spain, the CNMC announced on Tuesday.

The two contracts the companies signed in 2018, granting Amazon the status of authorized Apple dealer, included anti-competitive clauses that affected the online market for electronic devices in Spain, CNMC added.

“The two companies restricted without justification the number of sellers of Apple products on the Amazon website in Spain, more than 90% of the retailers that were using Amazon’s marketplace to sell Apple devices were blocked as a result,” stated the CNMC.

Amazon also restricted the advertising Apple’s competitors were allowed to place on its website when users searched for Apple products, the Spanish antitrust regulator added.

The deal between the two tech companies led to an increase in the prices of Apple devices in Spain. Apple is fined $161.4 million, while Amazon was fined $56.7 million, they both have two months to appeal the decision.

“We reject the suggestion made by CNMC that Amazon benefits from excluding sellers from its marketplace, as our business model hinges precisely on the success of the companies selling through Amazon,” said Amazon’s spokesperson in a statement.

Apple’s agreement with Amazon was designed to limit the number of counterfeits sold online, the company used to spend a lot of money and effort to send many take down notices to stop the sale of counterfeited devices, said Apple.