Amazon.com's (AMZN) price controls for retailers on its marketplace may be considered abuse under German and European Union laws, Germany's Federal Cartel Office said Monday.
Citing its preliminary legal assessment, the German antitrust watchdog said that if Amazon's price control mechanisms determine that seller prices are too high, corresponding offers will be completely removed from the marketplace or not shown in the highlighted shopping box.
The agency's president, Andreas Mundt, said Amazon's trading platform rules largely determine online retail competition in the country.
Mundt said that because the company competes directly with other retailers on its platform, influencing competitors' pricing, such as through price caps, is questionable from a competitive point of view.
An Amazon spokesperson said in a statement emailed to MT Newswires that the company strongly disagrees with the regulator's assessment.
"Under this preliminary assessment, Amazon would be the only retailer in Germany forced to promote uncompetitive prices to customers, which makes no sense for customers, selling partners or competition law," the spokesperson said. "Forcing Amazon to promote overpriced goods to German customers undermines existing EU-wide regulation."
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