The announced investigation into Amazon’s alleged abuse of a dominant market position must be conducted quickly to make sure that it ends its abusive behaviour as quickly as possible“, said Markus Ferber MEP, EPP Group Spokesman in the European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee.
“We must draw the right lessons from the previous investigation into Google, which dragged on too long and thus inflicted irreparable damage to the market“, Ferber added.
His comments follow today’s announcement by the European Commission that Amazon – in the Commission’s view – breached EU antitrust rules by distorting competition in the online retail market and opened a second formal investigation into possible abuse to the benefit of Amazon’s own retail business, which competes with third party sellers.
“Platforms like Amazon are the gatekeepers of the digital economy and yield considerable power. Competition authorities have to be vigilant to make sure that there is fair competition on digital platforms, particularly when a platform operator is in direct competition with some of its users. This set-up is ripe for abuse and the Commission is right to step in forcefully when there is even the slightest hint of abuse of a dominant market position“, Ferber concluded.