Spain suspends €194m Apple, Amazon fines pending appeal

Madrid — Spain’s high court has suspended €194m in fines imposed on Amazon and Apple by the local antitrust watchdog in July, pending an appeal by the tech giants, an Amazon spokesperson said on Thursday.

CNMC, as the watchdog is known, fined Amazon and Apple for colluding to prevent dealers other than Amazon from selling Apple wares on Amazon’s websites in Spain.

Apple was fined €143.6m and Amazon €50.5m and both companies at the time said they would appeal. The court decision to suspend the payment is part of the appeal process, the Amazon spokesperson said.

Amazon said in July that as a result of the deal with Apple, the number of discounts on Apple devices on Amazon’s websites increased, while Apple said the deal was intended to protect customers from fake devices.

The suspension of the fine does not anticipate the court will rule in favour or against the tech giants.

CNMC said a contract signed by the two companies in October 2018 granting Amazon the status of authorised Apple dealer on its websites in Spain included anticompetitive clauses that prevented more than 90% of the existing retailers from selling Apple wares on Amazon’s market place.

After these contracts, Amazon also reduced the capacity of retailers in the EU based outside Spain to access Spanish customers, and restricted the advertising Apple’s competitors were allowed to place on its website when users searched for Apple products, the regulator said.

A similar case was opened in Italy against the two companies but was eventually dropped. 

Reuters