Spain Fines Amazon, Apple $218 million for limiting Online Sale of Devices

New Delhi, 19th July 2023: Spain’s antitrust regulator announced on Tuesday that it has fined Amazon and Apple a total of 194.1 million euros ($218.03 million) for conspiring to limit the online sale of Apple and competitor devices in Spain.

The two contracts signed by the firms on Oct. 31, 2018, granting Amazon the position of authorised Apple dealer featured anti-competitive conditions that damaged the online market for electronic gadgets in Spain, according to the CNMC, the watchdog.

Apple received a penalty 143.6 million euros, while Amazon was fined 50.5 million euros. The two corporations have two months to file an appeal. Apple and Amazon representatives both stated that their companies intend to challenge the fines.

CNMC said, “The two companies restricted without justification the number of sellers of Apple products on the Amazon website in Spain.”

According to the report, more than 90% of existing shops that used Amazon’s market place to sell Apple devices were barred.

According to the regulator, Amazon also hampered the capacity of European Union shops situated outside of Spain to access Spanish clients and limited the advertising of Apple’s competitors that were allowed to display on its website when users looked for Apple items.

According to the report, following the agreement between the two digital behemoths, the cost of Apple devices sold online in Spain increased.

An Amazon spokesperson said in an emailed statement, “We reject the suggestion made by CNMC that Amazon benefits from excluding sellers from its market place, as our business model hinges precisely on the success of the companies selling through Amazon.”

The spokesperson stated that the deal benefited Apple gadget buyers because as a consequence of the deal the number of discounts on iPad and iPhone grew.

Meanwhile, Apple stated that the arrangement with Amazon was intended to reduce the quantity of counterfeits sold online. Previously, the company stated it spent a lot of money and effort sending hundreds of thousands of ‘take-down’ notices to prohibit the sale of counterfeited gadgets.

Reuters had reported in October on an Italian case involving the two corporations that was identical to the one presented in Spain. This action threatened them with a fine of 200 million euros, but it was subsequently dismissed.