Paris — The French finance ministry has brought a court case against Amazon for abuse of its dominant position on Marketplace, the retail giant’s third-party vendor platform. The ministry said on Monday that there was "a significant imbalance" in business relations between Amazon and vendors selling products on its platform, saying it was seeking a fine against Amazon of about €10m. The case follows a two-year investigation into third-party vendor platforms, including Amazon’s, the ministry said. It will be heard by the Paris commercial court. "We found that there is a significant imbalance in the clauses that Amazon forces on the companies that sell on its Marketplace, a practice that goes against business law," Loic Tanguy, cabinet chief at the ministry’s competition, consumer and anti-fraud unit, told AFP. The unit found several clauses it believes to be illegal in agreements with third-party vendors on Amazon’s French Marketplace platform, which is consulted by 3.6-million peopl...
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